
Glass. 
Book. 



Memoirs 

of the 

Countess Potocka 




Countess Potocka, 
Nee Anna Tyszkiewicz ; author of the " JNIemoirs." 

Fro7n an engraving of the portrait by Angelica Kauffmann. 



Memoirs 

of the 

Countess Potocka 

Edited by Casimir Stryienski 

Authorised Translation by 
Lionel Strachey 

miuBtratet) 




New York 

Doubleday & McClure Co. 

1900 



48098 



LibrMry of Oun^jfess 

SEP 17 1900 

CPfvnghl entry 

S£Co^Jr COPY. 

OSOt*^ DIVISION, 

SEP 21 1900 



.6 



80126 

Copyright, 1900, by 
DOUBLEDAY & McClURE CO. 



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TO THE 

SPIRIT OF THE 

NOBLE, AMIABLE, AND TALENTED 

PATRIOTESS, 

WHOSE RICH REMINISCENCES AND CHARMING COMMENTS 

ARE HEREWITHIN PRESENTED, 

THE TRANSLATOR 

REVERENTLY DEDICATES 

THIS 

ENGLISH VERSION 



Thanks are due to the editor of 
" The Parisian " for kind per- 
mission to reprint the extracts 
from these Memoirs previously 
published in that magazine. 



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A Page in Facsimile (reduced) of the Original Manuscript 
of the " Memoirs." 



1 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Translator's Note v 

Preface . . . , xxi 

part tbe jfirst 

YOUNG MEMORIES 

Chapter I. The Castle of Bialystok, 1794 

The Margravine of Baireuth — The Margrave of Bai- 
reuth — The Last King of Poland — Bialystok — Ma- 
dame de Cracovie — April 18, 1794 — The Ladies in 
Kosciuszko's Camp — Massacre of Praga, November 4, 
1794 3 

Chapter IL The " Emigrants " and Louis XVIII. , 1798 
The Bassompierres at Bialystok — The Count — A So- 
ciety Poet — Mademoiselle de Rigny — Glorious Mem- 
ories — Arrival of Louis XVIII. — The Disappointment 
of the Bassompierres — Marriage Plans for the Duke 
de Berry and Anna Tyszkiewicz — A Female Admirer 
of Bonaparte — Count Tyszkiewicz — His Noble and 
Patriotic Conduct — Catherine's Anger . . . .10 

Chapter HI. The Astrologer, 1802 

Mademoiselle Duchene, Madame de Cracovie's Com- 
panion — Life at the Castle — Chateaubriand and Rous- 
seau — Charles XII. — The Swedish Astrologer — He 
Predicts Stanislaus Augustus a Throne — The Good Old 
Times , , , , , 17 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Chapter IV. Marriage to Count Alexander Potocki, 
1802 
Marriage Schemes — Arrival of Count Potocki at Bialy- 
stok — Count Stanislaus Potocki — Count Tyszkiewicz 
and General Beningsen — Death of Paul I. — The Au- 
thor's Education and Tastes — Countess Tyszkiewicz — 
Madame Sobolewska 24 

Chapter V. LAN9UT and Pulawy, 1803 

Sentimental Walk by Moonlight — Feminine Guile — 
Wedding Visits — The Princess Marshal — His Grace 
of Laon — Pulawy — Prince Adam Casimir Czartoryski 

— His Generosity — The Park at Pulawy — The Gothic 
House — Reminiscences of the Great Frederick — The 
Emperor Joseph II. — Prince Kaunitz .... 31 

Chapter VI. Mysteries, 1803 

Return to Town — The Seer — A Trap Set — An Even- 
ing at the French Theatre, Warsaw — Mysterious Drive 

— The Soothsayer's Den — Consultation — The Black 
Curtain Rises — An Apparition — The Supper — Key to 
the Riddle — Prince Radziwill — An Annoying Mother- 
in-Law — Birth of an Heir — Natoline .... 43 

Chapter VII. The Emperor Alexander at Wil- 
lanow, 1805 

An Unexpected Guest — Prince Adam Czartoryski — 
The Dinner — Alexander's Conversation — The Visitors' 
Book 55 

part tbe Second 

THE FRENCH AT WARSAW 

1806-1807 

Chapter I. The Vanguard 

End of the War with Prussia — Entry of a French Regi- 
ment into Warsaw — M. de F 1 — Murat — Ball 

Given by Prince Poniatowski — Murat's Plume . . 6i 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGB 

Chapter II. Napoleon's Entry into Warsaw 

The Triumvirate — The Preparations — Secret Arrival of 

the Emperor — The Official Reception ... 67 

Chapter III. First Hostilities 

Prince Borghese — The Sick Child — Devotion of M. de 

F 1 — Savary's Idea — Pultusk — Reception at the 

Palace — Presentation to the Emperor . . . -71 

Chapter IV. Gallantries 

Ball at M. de Talleyrand's — The Glass of Lemonade — 
An Imperial Quadrille — Madame Walewska — The Key 
to Prince Murat's Apartment 78 

Chapter V. The Emperor's Game of Whist 

More Balls — The Parade — The Emperor's Orchestra 

— The Dutch Deputation — The Stake at Cards — The 
Heir Presumptive of Bavaria — The " Count of Com- 
minges " — The Princes of the Blood — Murat's Gascon 
Accent — His Affected Phrases 83 

Chapter VI. Eylau 

The Pink Relic — Maret, Duke de Bassano — The Duke 
de Dalberg — Birth of Nathalia Potocka — Madame 
Walewska at Osterade — Josephine's Shawl — Napoleon's 
Opinion of " Corinne " — Battle of Eylau — The Return 
of the French — Feat of Arms by Prince Borghese . 88 

Chapter VII. Tilsit 

Presentation of the Colours to the Three Polish Legions 

— Prince Poniatowski — Victory of Friedland — Count 
Stanislaus Potocki at the Interview of Tilsit — The Tears 
of the Queen of Prussia — The Royal Banquet — The 
Duchy of Warsaw 95 

Chapter VIII. Marshal Davout 

.Marshal Davout, Governor of Warsaw — His Wife — 
General Ricard — Prince Murat and His Livery — De- 
parture of M. de F 1 — His Letter — Death of Ma- 
dame de Cracovie, 1808 99 



XU CONTENTS 

Ipart tbe Zbiv^ 

JOURNEY TO FRANCE IN 1810 

PAGE 

Chapter I. Preliminaries of Marie-Louise's Mar- 
riage 

Death of the Writer's Father, Count Tyszkiewicz — De- 
parture for Vienna — Viennese Society — The Prince de 
Ligne — His Marriage — Count Charles de Damas — 
Countess Palfify — News from Paris — Recriminations ot 
the Viennese Aristocracy — Arrival of Berthier — Letter 
from Napoleon to the Archduke Charles . . .109 

Chapter IL M. de Narbonne 

Marie-Louise's Slipper — M. de Narbonne at the Prince 
de Ligne's — A Mentor — Arrival at Munich — The 
Bath — Celadon — Lone Journey to Strassburg . • 1 1 7 

Chapter III. Ceremonial Entry into Paris 

The Countess Tyszkiewicz — Disenchantment — Parisian 
Pleasantries — The Procession — Picture of Marie-Louise 
— The Imperial Guard — The Pages — The Spirit of the 
Crowd — Presentation to Madame de Souza . . .122 

Chapter IV. The Court 

The Emperor — Marie-Louise — Court Paradoxes — 
Elisa — Pauline Borghese — The Queen of Naples — 
The Princess^ de Talleyrand — Countess Tyszkiewicz's 
Circle . . . . . . . . . • 127 

Chapter V. The Festivities 

The Princess Borghese at Neuilly — The Castle of 
Schoenbrunn — Marie- Louise's Emotion — The Ball at 
the Austrian Embassy 132 

Chapter VI. Society 

At Denon's — The Mummy's Foot — The Viscountess de 
Laval's Circle — Petrarch and Laura — A Dinner at M. 
de Talleyrand's — The Duke de Laval — The Davouts 



CONTENTS xiii 

PAGE 

at Savigny — The Marshal's Partridges — M. de F 1 

— Luncheon with Madame de Souza — Labedoyere — 
The Duchess of Courland — Talleyrand and His Seraglio 1 38 

Chapter VII. Round About Paris 

The Countess Mniszech — The Panorama Arcade — The 
Queen of Poland — Visits to the Painter's Studios — 
The Abbe Morellet — Mademoiselle Lenoimand — Ma- 
dame de Souza and the Little Sorceress — The Pythoness 

— An Eventful Youth — Prophecy of the Birth of Count 
Maurice Potocki 149 

Chapter VIII. Malmaison — The Avowal 

Josephine — Napoleon's Bedchamber — Josephine's Taste 

— The Picture Gallery — The Gardens and the Hot- 
houses — The Emperor's Invitation — Conversation with 
the Emperor — Note from Charles de F 1 — Explana- 
tion — An Officer's Romance 158 

Chapter IX. The Dinner at Saint-Cloud 

Invitation to Saint-Cloud — Madame de Montebello — 
Marie-Louise — Drive in the Park — The Emperor's 
Bill of Fare — Prince Eugene — The King of Holland's 
Abdication — Marie-Louise Coaxes her Husband — Ru- 
mours of War with Russia — Talma — Luncheon at M. 
de Talleyrand's — Farewell to Charles de F 1 — De- 
parture . . 168 



part tbe jf ourtb 

THE GRAND DUCHY OF WARSAW 

Chapter I. Bignon, 1811-1812 

Birth of Count Maurice Potocki — The Court of Fred- 
, eric Augustus — M. de Serra — Prince Joseph Ponia- 
towski — Birth of the King of Rome — Enthusiasm of 
the Poles — Prince Poniatowski Goes to Paris — Pauline 
Borghese — M. Bignon 181 



XIV CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Chapter II. Preliminaries to the Russian Campaign, 
1812 
Declaration of War — The Polish Army — Napoleon and 
Francis at Dresden — Marie-Louise and Beatrice d'Este 

— The Confederate Diet — The Archbishop of Malines 

— The Duke de Broglie — M. d' Andre — The Ambassa- 
dor's Avarice — Prince Czartoryski, Marshal of the Diet 

— Matuszewicz — Prince Adam — Prince Czartoryski's 
Speech — The Cockades 187 

Chapter III. De Pradt, 181 2 

Smolensk — Death of Count Grabowski — The French 
Embassy — The King of Westphalia at Warsaw — Ma- 
dame Walewska at de Pradt's — Dinner in the Country 

— The Gnats — M. de Brevannes' Impromptu — The 
Ambassador's Present 195 

Chapter IV. The Retreat, 1812-1813 

First News of the Disasters — Arrival of Napoleon at 
Warsaw — The Dinner at the Hotel d'Angleterre — Ma- 
dame Walewska — Colonel Wonsowicz's Story — Return 
of the Troops — Prince Poniatowski — Mojaisk — The 
Eagles — The Cuckoo — Patriotic Enthusiasm — Prince 
Poniatowski's Farewell and Departure — His Will . . 203 

Chapter V. Death of Prince Poniatowski, 1813 _ 

Prince Adam Czartoryski and Alexander — The Em- 
peror of Russia's Proposals to Poniatowski — Prince 
Antony Radziwill — Prince Poniatowski's Attitude — 
His Interview with Napoleon at Dresden — The Cam- 
paign in Saxony — Prince Sulkowski — General Dom- 
browski — The Poles in Elba — Krasinski — Prince 
Poniatowski's Funeral 214 

part tbc mttb 

THE RUSSIANS AT WARSAW 

Chapter I. Kosciuszko and Alexander, 1815 

Correspondence Between Alexander and Kosciuszko in 
1814 — The Burial Mound — The Ministerial Council — 
Novosiltzoff — M. de Lanckoy's Chibouque . . .225 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

Chapter II. The Congress of Vienna, 1815 

Prince Czartoryski at the Congress — Correspondence 
with Lords Gray and Holland — : The Prince de Metter- 
nich — The Prince de Talleyrand — Lord Castlereagh 

— The Congress Dances — Monarchs and Mistresses — 
The Tournament — News of Napoleon's Landing — 
Long Live the King of Poland ! — The New Constitution 230 

Chapter III. The Emperor Alexander at Warsaw, 
1815 
The Emperor's Arrival — The Ball in the Assembly- 
Rooms — The Grand Duke Constantine — Russian Dis- 
cipline — Composition of the New Ministry — Prince 
Adam Czartoryski — General and Madame Zaionczek — 
The Grand Duke's Mistress — Constantine's Revenge . 237 

Chapter IV. Marriage of the Grand Duke Constan- 
tine, 1820 

The Diet of 1818 — The Grand Duke Constantine's Part 

— Prince Joseph Poniatowski's Statue — Joan Grudzinska 

— Madame Fridrichs — The Wedding — The Piano — 
Madame Weiss — The Duchess of Lowicz . . . 245 

Epilogue 252 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Countess Potocka, author of the " Memoirs " . . Frontispiece 

From an engraving of the portrait by Angelica Kauffmann 
A Page in Facsimile (reduced) of the Original Manuscript of the 

" Memoirs " . vii 

Polish Coins ........ xvii and xx 

FACING PAGE 

Europe, showing Original Extent of Poland and its Partitions . I 

Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, last King of Poland ... 4 

Front an engraving by Leney 
Koscius2ko ........... 6 

After a print engraved in 1829 by A. Oleszczynski 
The Massacre of Praga ........ 8 

From, a Germatt engraving 
Cracow, the Capital of the Polish Republic . . . .12 

From an engraving by Outhwaite of a drawing by Glowacki 
Palace of the Kings of Poland . . . . . . .12 

From an etching 
Louis XVIII 14 

From, an engraving by Holl of Isabey^s portrait 

Stanislaus C. Poniatowski, Commander of the forces of Charles XII. 
of Sweden .......... 22 

From an engraving by Hopwood of a drawing by Peszka 

xvii _. \ ~ 



xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Count Levin A. T. Beningsen ....... 28 

(A leader in the murder of the Czar Paul in 180 1) 

Countess Sophie Zamoyska . . . . . . . .36 

From an engraving by Hopwood after Isabey 
Joseph II., Emperor of Germany ....... 40 

Fro7n an old engraving 
Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz ...... 42 

The Grand National Theatre at Warsaw 46 

Engraved by Pilinski after Corazzi 
The Kopernik House in Warsaw visited by Napoleon in 1 807 . 46 

From an engraving by Pilinski after Mielcarzewicz 
Emperor Alexander I. of Russia . . . , . . .56 

From an engraving of 1806, by Hopwood 
General Kalkreuth . . . . . . . . • 58 

From an old engraving 
Napoleon's Entry into Berlin ....... 62 

From an ettgraving by Derby after Raffet 
Marshal Berthier , . 74 

From an engraving by Lignon after a drawing by Vigneron 
M. de Talleyrand ......... 76 

From an engraving by Mote after Gerard'' s portrait 
Carl Theodor, Duke de Dalberg .90 

From a German engraving 
Prince Joseph Poniatowski ........ 92 

From a steel engraving by Allais 
Battle of Eylau, February 7, 1807 ...... 94 

From an engraving by Skelton of the painting by Simeon Fort 
Napoleon and Alexander of Russia Meeting on the Niemen at Tilsit 96 

From engravings by Coiichefils 
Napoleon Receiving the Queen of Prussia at Tilsit ... 98 

From an engraving by Danois of the painting by Gosse 
General Ricard .......... 100 

From an engraving by Forestier 
The King and Queen of Prussia 102 

From a rare print 
Prince de Eigne . . . no 

Frotn an engraving by Cazenave 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix 

FACING PAGE 

Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, Empress of France . . 114 
From an engraving of i%\o by Cardan of the portrait by Guerard 

Archduke Charles of Austria 116 

Frotn an engraving by Heath of 1810 

Marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise . . . . .118 
From an engraving by Massard of Rouget's painting 

Arrival of Napoleon and Marie Louise at Compiegne . . .124 
From an engraving by Nargeot after Mme. Auzon^s painting 

Marquise de Souza-Botelho, the Novelist . . . . .127 

Fro7n an engraving by Massard after Staal 
The Tuileries . . . . . . . . . .128 

From an engraving of \'6\Z by Couchefils 

The Palace of the Tuileries . . . . . . . .128 

From an engraving by Floyd after A Horn 

Hortense, Queen of Holland . . . . . . .130 

From an engraviiig by Regnault of the portrait by herself 

Prince Schwarzenberg . . . . . . . .136 

From an engraving by Lignon after a drawing by Vigneron 

Mme. Regnault de St. Jean D'Angely 142 

From a lithograph of a drawing by Champagne 

M. Labedoyere 148 

From a rare print 
L'Abbe Andre Morellet .154 

From an engraving by Massol of the portrait 

Mile. Lenormand, the Soothsayer . . . . . .156 

From a lithograph of the drawing by Champagne 

Napoleon at Malmaison . . . . . . . .160 

From an engraving by Skelton 

The Palace of Saint-Cloud . . . . . . . .170 

From an engraving by Adlard of the picture by Allom 

Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony . . . . . .184 

From an engraving by Mechel of Graff's painting in 1 790 

M. de Pradt 192 

From a very scarce engraving 

The Taking of Smolensk 198 

From an engraving by Couchefils 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

The Retreat from Russia ........ 206 

After the painting by Yvon 
General Jean Henri Dombrowski ...... 220 

From an engraving by Hopwood of the portrait by Stachowitz 
Count Pac ........... 222 

From an engraving by Falcke 
A Polish Cathedral of 1800— Church of St. Stanislaus at Malatycze 230 

From an engraving by Le Petit of a drawing by Gucewicz 
The Congress of Vienna ........ 234 

After the painting by Isabey 
Grand Duke Constantine of Russia ...... 248 

From an engraving by Lignon after a drawing by Vigneron 



® SSs 




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PREFACE 



A WORD of help to those among the public for the first time 
plunged into this sensation of Polish surnames, this buzz of 
yska's and owski's and zvicz's. Turn, groping reader, to the 
genealogical table at the end of this volume. Heading the 
brave lineage of our Countess Potocka you see the name of 
Stanislaus C. Poniatowski. From the loins of that great 
warrior, in the language of Voltaire "the indefatigable 
agent of the King of Sweden" (the pertinacious and ascetic 
Charles XII.), came five male and two female children, that 
is to say, five bearing the name Poniatowski and two with 
the cognomen Poniatowska. His oldest son, Casimir, was 
father to Constance, who was married to Count Louis 
Tyskiewicz, and this couple brought into the world the au- 
thoress of the present "Memoirs." Anna, the said writer, 
was to have been given in marriage to her uncle, Prince 
Stanislaus Poniatowski, but at the age of twenty-six she con- 
ferred her hand upon Count Potocki (pronounce : Pototski), 
so becoming Countess Potocka (pronounce: Pototska). 
They had three children, Augustus, Nathalia and Maurice, 
all born at Warsaw during the course of the countess' bio- 
graphical narrative. This is composed of intermittent sec- 
tions, indited, as journeys and court balls and Napoleon and 
accouchements might allow, between 1812 and 1820, but 
describes events as far back as 1794. Thus the "Memoirs" 
date from the Third Partition of Poland to the incorporation 
of what was left of that country with the Russian Empire, 



xxii PREFACE 

whose Tsar, Alexander I., impertinently invented himself 
"King of Poland" while astutely pleasing the fiery Polacks 
with a toy "Constitution." 

Poniatowski — the companion-in-arms to the royal Swede 
of the stiff chin and ready sword — counted among his issue 
Stanislaus Augustus, the last king of Polish nationality. It 
is this granduncle of the authoress whose amiable incapacity 
to govern she truthfully avows in her opening chapter. In 
the same chapter a sister of this king, Isabel Poniatowska, 
afterwards Countess Branicka, is referred to as "Madame 
de Cracovie" by her candid and accomplished grandniece. 
Other aunts conspicuous in the Countess Potocka's compli- 
cated family history are Ursula, Countess Mniszech, nick- 
named "Countess Medal," and Maria Theresa, wedded to 
Count Tyskiewicz (see chapters Three and Four of the Third 
Part). Both were granddaughters of the aforesaid Stanis- 
laus C, Poniatowski. One of his grandsons. Prince Joseph 
Poniatowski, who took part in Napoleon's Russian cam- 
paign, as Marshal of France commanded the Polish legion 
at Leipsic, where he was drowned in the miserable little 
Elster. 

The Countess Potocka, we see, was great granddaughter 
to Stanislaus C. and niece to Joseph Poniatowski. She was 
born as Anna Tyskiewicz, was married first to Count Alex- 
ander Potocki, to whom she bore three children and, upon 
his death, to Colonel Wonsowicz — briefly mentioned in her 
account of Napoleon's return to Warsaw from Moscow. 
At the age of ninety-one the countess died in Paris, where 
her brilHant salon held no insignificant place in the gilded 
pleasures of the Second Empire. Thirty years after the 
countess' death Casimir Stryienski, also a Pole, with the 
consent of her daughter Nathalia arranged the "Alemoirs" 
for publication. 

The Translator. 



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Part the First 
YOUNG MEMORIES 



CHAPTER I 

THE CASTLE OF BIALYSTOK 
1794 

THE MARGRAVINE OF BAIREUTH THE MARGRAVE OF BAI- 

REUTH THE LAST KING OF POLAND BIALYSTOK MA- 
DAME DE CRACOVIE APRIL 1 8, 1 794 THE LADIES IN 

KOSCIUSZKO'S CAMP MASSACRE OF PRAGA, NOVEMBER 4, 

1794. 

IT was in the year 1812. I had lately been reading the 
Margravine of Baireuth's curious memoirs, whose pub- 
lication, according to Napoleon, was the equivalent of a 
second battle of Jena to the house of Brandenburg, such 
pettiness and such turpitude did they disclose. 

I was very young then, and a desire seized me to write 
down my memories and impressions as I advanced in age. 
At that time memoirs were not manufactured by the dozen. 
People wrote — with more or less honesty — their own. It 
seemed to me — this I can say without boasting — that I was 
able to bring more interesting facts together than those 
which built the good Margravine's fame, and so I set to 
work. 

^ Not every one can be the sister of a great man. That 
sometimes disturbed me. I knew very well that it was 



4 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Frederick 11. who was soug-ht for under a heap of coarse 
anecdotes. 

Although issued from royal blood, I had never had my 
ears boxed, to speak in Margravian terms; I had never 
found hairs in my soup, and I had never been put under lock 
and key. Instead of a wretchedly meagre principality, we 
inhabited one of the finest castles on the continent, a fact 
which is neither as novel nor as spicy as those which the 
Margravine tells us about her place of abode. But, living 
in the Grand Century, I founded my hopes on the interest 
attaching to those glorious days. 

To write one's memoirs without mentioning one's self 
seems scarcely possible to me; if one wants to inspire con- 
fidence, ought one not to begin by introducing one's self? 

My father was Count Louis Tyszkiewicz, My mother 
was a niece of the last of our kings, Stanislaus Augustus 
Poniatowski. This monarch's noble visage, his dignified 
manner, his gentle and melancholy gaze, his silvery hair, 
and his beautiful, slightly perfumed hand — all this is still 
present to my memory. The time to which these recollec- 
tions belong is that of our last misfortunes. 

My mother followed the king to Grodno, whither, upon 
the Third Partition, the Russian faction had compelled him 
to go. There, from a tiny chamber in which I had been 
lodged with my governess, I saw the royal train of slaves 
every morning. The Russian guards, with their flat, sallow 
faces, whom the knout turns into moving machines, fright- 
ened my juvenile fancy to such a degree that all my father's 
authority was needed to make me cross the threshold of 
the door, and never without resistance and tears, at that. 

Dismal silence reigned in the castle where the family had 
gathered to say a last farewell to the unfortunate, whom, 
after having crowned, Catherine had burdened with chains. 
Carried off to St. Petersburg, he there expiated the errors 








Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, 
Last King of Poland. 

From an engraving by Leney. 




COUNTESS POTOCKA 5 

he had committed at the empress' prompting, which she had 
exploited with a Machiavellian astuteness that has few par- 
allels in history. 

Under other circumstances Poniatowski might have oc- 
cupied his throne worthily. His reign was epoch-making 
in the annals of science. He revived the taste for art and 
letters in Poland, which the rule of the Saxon electors, 
whose brutishness had brought a fateful reaction upon the 
country, had extinguished. 

When Augustus drank Poland zvas drunk! 

Stanislaus, on the other hand, took pleasure only in noble 
and useful occupations. His leisure hours were in large 
patt devoted to men of science and to artists. In addition to 
a sound and varied education, he possessed a delightful mind 
and exquisite taste. Speaking the dead languages, as well 
as the languages of the countries in which he had travelled, 
with fluency, he had in him the capacity to a high degree 
of captivating his audience, and the art of addressing words 
to his hearers which would most flatter the national pride or 
personal vanity of each one of them. He had a large, gen- 
erous heart ; he forgave without reserve, and his beneficence 
often went a little too far. But nature, so prodigal to the 
man, had refused the monarch the only things which make 
a ruler : strength and will. 

When the king had gone we returned to Bialystok — it was 
there that my aunt lived, Madame de Cracovie. She was 
the widow of Count Branicki, Governor of the Castle of 
Cracow, and sister to King Stanislaus Augustus Ponia- 
towski. Her husband had played an important part at the 
Confederation of Bar, and in 1 764 he Vv' as entered on the list 
of claimants to the throne. But his brother-in-law's party 
showing itself the stronger, he retired to his estates, where 
he lived as king. 

I saw the Castle of Bialystok when it was still fitted out 



6 MEMOIRS OF THE 

with rare splendour. French upholsterers, brought there at 
great expense, had purveyed furniture, mirrors and panel- 
lings worthy of the Palace of Versailles. Nothing could 
surpass the magnificent proportions of the saloons and ves- 
tibules, adorned with marble columns. The castle had seen 
the passage of all that Poland had to show in the way of 
great lords and the most eminent travellers. The Emperor 
Paul, when still grand duke, and his wife had stopped 
there a few days while undertaking the memorable journey 
that all Europe talked about. The arrangement of the gar- 
dens and parks, the wealth of the different hothouses, the 
beauty and profusion of the orange trees — all these things 
made this place a right royal abode. In the lifetime of M. 
de Cracovie, two theatrical troupes, French and Polish, as 
well as a company of dancers, maintained at his expense, 
shortened the long winter evenings by a variety of perfor- 
mances. The theatre, which was decorated by an Italian 
artist, could hold from three to four hundred people. This 
building, entirely separate from the castle, was situated at 
the entrance to the deer park. I saw it in fairly good con- 
dition. 

Such was then the mode of life that the great lords of the 
opposition led at home. In my day nothing was left but the 
reminiscences which I made centenarian servants tell me. 

Count Branicki's widow, simple and quiet in her tastes, 
though noble and great in her actions, spent as large sums in 
charity as her husband squandered on festivities and amuse- 
ments of all kinds. Sustaining with dignity the rank as- 
signed her by birth and fortune, she secretly diverted from 
superfluity the liberal relief which she never refused indi- 
gence or misfortune. 

No one on this earth has ever given better hope of the 
possibility of perfection, so universally disputed. Pious 
without bigotry, good without weakness, proud and gentle, 




KOSCIUSZKO. 

After a print engraved in j82g by A Oleszczynski. 



^L 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 7 

decided but sensitive, charitable without ostentation, disin- 
terestedly generous, she possessed all of those qualities that 
constitute a love of virtue. Perhaps she would not have been 
thought clever enough by some, but no one could have writ- 
ten more gracefully, expressed herself with more distinction, 
done the honours of the house more grandly, and bestowed 
more active kindness on all her surroundings. 

My children, when you shall pass through Bialystok I ask 
a thought of her and a recollection of myself. There my 
marriage was decided upon, and there I saw death for the 
first time! My mother hardly ever left that beloved aunt 
and I was brought up under her eyes. We spent the winters 
at Warsaw, and in the summer we returned to the beautiful 
residence I have been describing; but dating from the day 
when the king was dragged to St. Petersburg, his sister es- 
tablished herself in the country and never left her castle 
again. So the winter of 1794 was the last we spent in town, 

I perfectly remember the revolution which put an end to 
our political existence. By common accord the command 
was conferred upon Kosciuszko, who ardently defended the 
holiest of causes. 

On April eighteenth we were awakened by cannon shots 
and a sharp fusillade. My father being absent, and the ser- 
vants having at once rushed to arms without troubling about 
our safety, a female council had to be called, who decided 
that the safest course to pursue was to hide in the cellars. 
We passed the morning there without any news of what was 
happening. Towards three o'clock in the afternoon, the 
fusillading having ceased in our region, the king sent us 
word to try to reach the castle, where he resided. We found 
neither coachmen nor lackeys, and anyhow a carriage would 
have moved with difficulty through streets encumbered with 
corpses. We were obliged to walk across the whole suburb 
of Cracow, where the fighting had been going on for several 



8 MEMOIRS OF THE 

hours. The sight of this battlefield, where the Russians lay 
strewn about by the hundred, froze me with horror! But 
that was the only painful impression I felt : the spent balls 
that whistled above our heads did not disturb me in the least. 

From that day until the massacre of Praga we never left 
the castle, the town being in a perpetual ferment. All that 
occurred in this interval has completely faded from my 
memory. I only recollect vaguely having accompanied my 
mother to Kosciuszko's camp, where five ladies, their little 
caps on their ears, were drawing wheelbarrows full of earth 
to be used for the erection of the ramparts. I envied their 
lot, and my childish heart already throbbed at the tales of 
our victories. 

Morning and evening a nurse made me pray piously to 
God to bless our arms. I entered with all my heart into 
what she told me to do, only I did not exactly understand 
what was happening, and why one was supposed to be so 
cross with those handsome Russian officers, whom I had 
more than once watched with pleasure caracoling on beauti- 
ful horses. The massacre of Praga taught me, and very 
early my heart was opened to sentiments which I have trans- 
mitted to my children. Nine thousand defenceless people^ 
were slaughtered in one night, with no other refuge nor 
tomb but their own dwellings reduced to ashes ! The king's 
castle being situated on the banks of the Vistula, which was 
all that separated us from the suburb of Praga, we distinctly 
heard the groans of the victims and the hurrahs of the 
butchers. It was even possible to distinguish the shrieks 
and the laments of the women and children, and the howls 
and imprecations of the fathers and husbands who were dy- 
ing in defence of the dearest that man has. Profound 
darkness added to the horror of the scene. Against whirl- 
winds of fire exhaling a whitish smoke stood out infernal 
silhouettes of Cossacks, who, like devilish phantoms, tore 




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COUNTESS POTOCKA 9 

hither and thither on horseback, their lances poised, with 
awful hisses urging themselves on in their murderous work. 
Several hours passed in this way, after which nothing was 
to be heard but the noise of posts and beams falling in. No 
more screams nor wailing; no more clash of arms nor stamp 
of horses. The silence of death reigned over the suburb of 
Cracow — and the name of Souwaroff was dedicated to exe- 
cration ! 



CHAPTER II 

THE "EMIGRANTS" AND LOUIS XVIII 

1798 

THE BASSOMPIERRES AT BIALYSTOK THE COUNT A SO- 
CIETY POET MADEMOISELLE DE RIGNY GLORIOUS MEM- 
ORIES ARRIVAL OF LOUIS XVIII. THE DISAPPOINTMENT 

OF THE BASSOMPIERRES MARRIAGE PLANS FOR THE 

DUKE DE BERRY AND ANNA TYSZKIEWICZ A FEMALE 

ADMIRER OF BONAPARTE COUNT TYSZKIEWICZ HIS 

NOBLE AND PATRIOTIC CONDUCT CATHERINE'S ANGER. 

Our revolution had followed closely upon the revolution in 
France; but, surrounded by three powerful enemies, it was 
our misfortune to succumb, and the most generous efforts, 
the most praiseworthy devotion, ended only in the total dis- 
memberment of our country. It was not so with France, 
now marching with a firm step on to fame. A single point 
of comparison holds good : each country had its immigration. 
In France, the nobles, the royalists, the clergy. With us, 
the patriots, the victims, the exiles. France had her Ven- 
dee, and we our Legions ! Less fortunate in every way, we 
were condemned to go to shed our blood in another hemi- 
sphere. 

At the end of the last century Poland was overrun with 



COUNTESS POTOCKA n 

French "emigrants," who mostly claimed to be of grand 
descent, and eagerly accepted the hospitality offered them, 
as if they were conferring a favour, Madame de Cracovie 
had the whole Bassompierre family. First one had come, 
then two, then three, and finally the whole line, maternal and 
sempiternal. 

There seemed no intention of making a fuss over the head 
of the family ; however, as soon as the occasion arose he was 
besieged with the title of marquis. Next came the count, 
about fifty years old, husband to a young and rather pretty 
woman, whom he had married at this time of general topsy- 
turviness. Under any other circumstances Mademoiselle 
^e Rigny (according to her intimates) could never have 
aspired to such a brilliant position ! The count, short, puny, 
with well powdered porcupine hair, and the conventional 
pigtail as a butt for jokes, was not a highly agreeable person- 
age. He had a large pointed nose, a sombre eye, and a 
pursed up mouth. He was supposed to be a wit. He 
quoted dates with felicity, and made little verses, passably 
well turned. Whenever a play was to be improvised, a cele- 
bration to be held, a surprise to be managed, we would ask 
him for some couplets. He always had to be besought, and 
always ended hj giving us "his children,'" cautioning us 
not to murder them. Then came the rehearsals ; it was an 
important affair! We had to lift certain happy phrases, 
glide along a rhyme, lean on a hemistich! Rarely did the 
author appear satisfied; he was mortally tiresome. 

The countess' mother preserved remains of beauty, and 
seemed very wide awake. It was by no means proved that 
she had not, by former sacrifices, paved the way for the 
splendid position of her daughter. A nephew of twenty- 
three, who might have worn a workman's blouse, and a 
delightful little girl named Amelia completed the family. 
At first they would only accept modest accommodation, and 



12 MEMOIRS OF THE 

came in to share our meals. Eater on they found the apart- 
ment too restricted, and discovered that it was not sufficient 
to dine — there are so many other imperative wants. They 
therefore resigned themselves to the very secret acceptance 
of a fairly large allowance. After a few months they ex- 
pressed a desire to own a regular home: it is so charming 
to be at home! At once a pretty little villa was given 
them, a quarter of a mile from the castle. 

A new establishment requires so much attention! The 
count, absorbed by political interests, could or would not 
busy himself in the matter — the countess was so young! 
She did not know how to go about it; and, moreover, 
strangers always run the risk of being cheated ! The 
mamma thus undertook to let Madame de Cracovie guess 
at the embarrassment into which affluence had thrown them. 
Directly orders went forth, and the cottage was put into 
condition to receive its new guests. Nothing was wanting : 
the rooms were refurnished with elegant simplicity, the 
sideboards stocked, the pigeon-house was peopled, the gar- 
den raked, the footpaths sanded; even the coach-house and 
the stable were thought of, seeing that the family needed 
means of transportation to get to the castle. The uncle 
was too old, and Amelia too young, not to be fatigued by 
such a long walk. 

So many benefactions heaped upon a foreign family ex- 
cited envy; and if ever such a sentiment can be called 
excusable this was, given the manner in which said kind- 
nesses were received. It was everlasting comparisons be- 
tween the past and the present, uncivil allusions, or indeli- 
cate regrets. If some new arrival complimented our 
"emigrants" on the arrangements of their little villa, which 
really was charming, he was answered by a deep sigh, by a 
look of resignation, by some irrelevant phrase which meant, 
It might do for others, but for us .' -And then they 




Cracow, 
The Capital gf the PoHsh Repubhc. 

From ail eiigraving by Onthzvaite of a dratvzng by Gloivacki. 




Palace of the Kings of Poland. 

Front an etchmz- 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



13 



talked about the mansion they had been compelled to leave, 
of the delightful and gorgeous existence they had led there ! 
From there to Madame Bassompierre, and the friendship that 
had bound the great king and that great man, was but a 
step; and once on this ground there was no more enduring 
the thing! The sighs became sobs, and the allusions be- 
came insults. 

An annoying episode for the Bassompierres was the visit 
of Louis XVIIL, who stopped at Bialystok on the way to 
Mittau, where the Emperor Paul had persuaded him to set- 
tle. He was travelling under the name of Count de Lille. 
The apartment reserved for sovereigns had been prepared 
for him. We installed him there with all the consideration 
due to his birth and to misfortune. Madame de Cracovie 
went as far as the waiting room to meet him. He appeared 
very sensible to this reception, and made great efforts in 
amiability. I was not yet of an age to judge him, but he 
pleased me, for he looked all round and rosy. His attend- 
ance was slim. Dethroned kings have few courtiers. Louis 
XVni. had something better than flatterers : he had a sin- 
cere and devoted friend, Count d'Avaray. 

We were highly curious to see what greeting he would 
proffer the illustrious exiled family. Alas! It was one 
of those disappointments from which it is hard to recover! 
The king did not knozv them! He knew the marquis no 
more than the count, the young countess no more than the 
old mamma! He even made rather light of these props 
of the throne whom he had never seen, and who had done 
nothing to hold up tottering royalty. M. d'Avaray, sur- 
prised at the airs of our Bassompierres, thought himself 
compelled to tell us what he knew about them. They were, 
to say truth, Bassompierres, but poor and degenerate, hav- 
ing inherited nothing but pride of their family traditions, 
among which those mansions took a place of which they so 



H 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



incessantly talked. The Revolution had enriched them. 
They had never owned an establishment as pleasant as that 
offered them by a generous hospitality. 

These explanations in nowise changed Madame de Cra- 
covie's conduct; she continued to her death to overload her 
guests with kindness. However, the young countess learnt 
a lesson ; she talked less of Paris, which she had never seen, 
and abstained from unflattering comparisons between the 
country she had been obliged to leave and that in which 
she had met with so fine a reception. Thenceforth she wore 
her linen without venturing to complain of the odour of 
Polish soap; and, as the king had pronounced upon the 
good fare, a subject on which he was very impressionable, 
she afterward believed herself free not to cut grimaces when 
eating her soup. 

Whether it was the outcome of a passing project, or 
merely to make himself agreeable, and in this way pay for 
the royal reception given his master, I know not, but before 
leaving Bialystok Count d'Avaray proposed to my mother 
to marry me to the Duke de Berry. Hardly knowing what 
to reply, my mother urged my extreme youth, engaging, 
however, to transmit the proposition to my father, who 
would not hear of it. He answered my mother that a 
prince errant always looked to him more or less of an ad- 
venturer; that there was no probability of the Bourbons 
ever returning to France; that, moreover, a match that to- 
day might perhaps appear desirable to them owing to advan- 
tages of fortune, might later seem impolitic and unequal; 
that in any case, having but one daughter, he wished to 
marry her to a Polish nobleman. 

This refusal, modified and codified, was conveyed to M. 
d'Avaray, who was even more astonished than shocked at 
it. I only learnt of this singular proposition long after- 
ward, and I have often thought, in the course of the remark- 




Louis XVIII. 

From a>i engraving by Holl of I sabey's portrait. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 15 

able events unfolding before my eyes, what a strange situ- 
ation I should have found myself in. Already Bonaparte 
was making Europe resound with the echo of his triumphs. 
Such glory and fame burnt on the conqueror's brow, such 
good fortune crowned his enterprises, that I seemed to see 
Alexander or Csesar appear. I was brought up in the 
midst of the great man's detractors, but my admiration, 
often suppressed from fear of giving displeasure, grew none 
the less lively. How could I have reconciled sentiments of 
such a character with a lot similar to that which had been 
offered me? How could I jump for joy at the news of 
Napoleon's victories, being the wife of a Bourbon? 

Writing chiefly for my children, it is my duty to make 
them acquainted with their ancestor's fine character — my 
father's. After the First Partition he joined the ranks of 
the few who refused to sign the iniquitous document dic- 
tated to the abject Targowica Confederation by Russia. 
Consequent upon this brave opposition, his whole fortune 
was sequestered; my father submitted silently to the rigor- 
ous treatment which his steadfastness and patriotism had 
brought upon him. 

A few years later the Grand Duchy of Lithuania sent a 
delegation to St. Petersburg, in order to have the preserva- 
tion of the old penal code, the Litewski Statute, granted by 
Catherine. The deputation, composed of the richest and 
most distinguished noblemen of the country, Catherine re- 
ceived with the demonstrations she so cleverly lavished on 
those whom she wished to enlist among her admirers. Her 
court was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant in Europe. 
Balls and festivities followed one upon the other. The 
Polish deputies found themselves invited once for all to 
these splendid receptions by the gracious sovereign, and 
thought themselves obliged to respond to such an invita- 
tion. My father alone confined his visits to the court to 



I 6 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

the occasions demanded by the business which his mission 
inckided. The empress, surprised and offended at this lack 
of assiduity, was unable to withhold the mention of her 
displeasure from him, and, addressing him with asperity, 
said that he alone evinced no curiosity to see the beauties 
that adorned her parties. Far from appearing confused, 
my father made a low obeisance, as if he had taken this 
rebuke for a mark of favour, and replied in loud and firm 
tones that, considering the situation his country was in, a 
Pole could hardly dissemble his painful reflections, and, 
according to his opinion, sparkling festivities ought never 
to be darkened by any one bringing in irrepressible sadness. 
The sly Catherine, at once forming her opinion of the man 
who had ventured to answer her thus, exclaimed that she 
admired nothing so much as independent and elevated sen- 
timents. She added : 

"As a woman, I feel misfortunes which the severity of 
politics prevents me from forestalling as a sovereign," 

Just as she was withdrawing, she took a little watch, set 
with emeralds, from her belt and gave it to my father, beg- 
ging him to accept the gift as a special token of the esteem_ 
she bore him. This graceful act was followed by the can- 
celling of the sequestration imposed on my father's property. 



CHAPTER III 

THE ASTROLOGER 
1802 

MADEMOISELLE DUCHENE, MADAME DE CRACOVIE's COM- 
PANION LIFE AT THE CASTLE CHATEAUBRIAND AND 

ROUSSEAU CHARLES XII. THE SWEDISH ASTROLOGER — ■ 

HE PREDICTS STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS A THRONE THE 

GOOD OLD TIMES. 

Our house contained a person highly remarkable by reason 
of her wit, education, and prodigious memory, I allude to 
Mademoiselle Duchene, Madame de Cracovie's companion. 
A Parisian by birth, she had originally been employed by 
Madame de Tesse, and there had not only acquired the tone 
and manners of good society, but had collected a quantity of 
diverting anecdotes. She was one of those privileged peo- 
ple who never forget anything, no more what they have 
read than what they have heard. She had been nicknamed 
the "Perambulating Encyclopaedia." As shehad made friends 
with my governess, I saw a great deal of her, and in a great 
measure I owe to her the little I know. Madame de Bas- 
sompierre, whose education had been terribly neglected, was 
even more indebted to her than I. Mademoiselle Duchene 
devoted herself, heart and soul, to the Bassompierre family, 

17 



1 8 MEMOIRS OF THE 

whose habits, language, and very faults put her back into 
her motherland, so to speak. 

Brought up amidst these French people, I instinctively 
caught the spirit of their language, and of m}^ own choice 
pursued their literature. I was immensely fond of their 
partly witty and futile, partly instructive and serious, but 
ever lively conversation, even in the gravest discussions to 
which politics might give rise. For they were French peo- 
ple of the old school, who, in fact, made merry over every- 
thing, and took the lightest view of life they could. 

The life we led was most independent. We saw little of 
each other except during the mornings. As to our occu- 
pation, we all suited ourselves. Some worked, others 
played. Madame de Cracovie was so tolerant that no one, 
not even a relative, was obliged to attend mass, which was 
said every morning in the chapel. 

About three o'clock the dinner bell sounded. That was 
the signal for our general meeting. Every evening, ex- 
cepting in midsummer, there was a reading in the drawing- 
room from seven to nine. Anybody might come, on con- 
dition, however, of observing silence. The companion's 
duties did not extend beyond this brief space of time, which" 
the lady of the manor had set apart to inform herself as 
to the current periodicals and literary novelties. Failing 
these, the classics were re-read. It was in this way that I 
met with M. de Chateaubriand, who combined the classical, 
traditions and modern thought. 

The "Genie du Christianisme" had just been published. 
There are, alas ! two things which cannot by any possibility 
be reconciled : morality and imagination. I warn mothers, 
who would like their girls to read this religious poetry, of 
the fact. The author has inserted a passage from "La 
Nouvelle Heloise," one in which Julie complains of the void 
the heart experiences after the most deceptive emotions of 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



19 



life are exhausted. I have not forgotten the effect Rous- 
seau's harmonious prose had upon me. I stole the book 
to look up that passage again, and it put me into a melan- 
choly, dreamy mood. M. de Chateaubriand, I do not doubt, 
had the best of intentions ; he aimed to build to the greater 
glory of God; but, I repeat, the passage is dangerous to 
girls of fifteen ; it produces a very different effect from that 
intended by the author. 

The reading done, the doors were opened to all comers. 
The conversation was general. The old told stories, and the 
young listened attentively. Madame de Cracovie, oldest 
daughter to Poniatowski, the friend and associate of Charles 
XH., had picked up some interesting anecdotes from her 
father relative to the Swedish hero. 

Never seemed there a man more fitly endowed with the 
qualities proper for great enterprises. Combining a body 
of iron with a soul of fire, nothing could -astonish, nothing 
stop him. He did not believe in physical obstacles, and 
regarded human exigencies and weaknesses as childish 
chimeras and excuses for cowardice. One day there was 
no more food. The king, who always rode at the head of 
his army, suddenly jumped to the ground, and tearing up 
a tuft of grass, began to chew it. After a moment of silence 
he said to his faithful comrade, who looked at him in 
surprise : 

"I was attempting the conquest of the world. If I had 
succeeded in feeding my troops after this fashion I feel that, 
although 1 might not have surpassed, I should at least have 
equalled Alexander and Caesar." 

He feared only one power in the world, the power of 
beauty; only a handsome woman could boast of making 
him quail — she put him to flight. He said : 

"So many heroes have succumbed to the attractions of a 
beautiful face! Did not Alexander, my pet, burn a town 



20 MEMOIRS OF THE 

to please a ridiculous courtesan? I want my life to be 
free from such weakness; history must not find such a 
stain upon it." 

He was told, one day, that a young girl had come to sue 
for justice on behalf of a blind, octogenarian father, mal- 
treated by soldiers. 

The first inclination of the king, a strict disciplinarian, 
was to rush straight to the plaintiff, to hear the details of 
the misdemeanour for himself. But, suddenly stopping, 
he asked : 

"Is she good-looking?" 

And being assured that she was both very young and 
unusually lovely, he sent word that she must wear a veil, 
otherwise he would not listen to her. 

How I regret not having thought at the time of writing 
down all I heard 1 Now, it is only isolated facts that pre- 
sent themselves to my memory; then, it was the story of 
a whole life, the faithful account of the strangest events, 
of facts little known, which a person of advanced years and 
rare accuracy transmitted, still throbbing, to an attentive 
audience. She who, so to speak, put us in touch with those 
distant days, had the tales from an eye-witness, and re-~ 
counted them with such a simple good faith, a precision 
as to dates, which showed that she would never have taken 
the liberty to alter a fact, to omit or add an incident — so 
dear was the truth to her, such an influence had her fine 
integrity even upon her most trifling actions and upon her 
mere recreations in life. 

In the time of Charles XII. there were still professional 
astrologers. A superstition of this class attaches to an an- 
ecdote of my mother's youth. Sitting at my mother's feet, 
I pressed against her knees with a slight shiver, a commo- 
tion of the heart difficult to suppress. Whether that was 
childishness or credulity matters little. To-day I do not 



I 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 21 

blush at it, and avow my complete pleasure in being fright- 
ened. Here is the story of my well-beloved great-aunt's 
astrologer; perhaps it may meet with an impressionable 
reader, who will not be indifferent, inasmuch as, I repeat, 
there is no fiction in it. 

At the death of Charles XII., Poniatowski, who had been 
tenderly devoted to him, returned to Poland. A little later 
he married Princess Constance Czartoryska, and estab- 
lished himself with her at his country residence of Wolczyn. 
Raised to the highest dignity of the land, the post of Gov- 
ernor of the Castle of Cracow, which his son-in-law inherited 
after him, he lived, honoured by his neighbours and cher- 
ished by his family, resting after a stormy career and the 
exalted tasks to which his best years had been consecrated. 
He was already the father of four children ; at the moment 
when the singular occurrence happened which I am about 
to relate, the fifth was being expected. The excitement 
which an event of this kind evokes was then reigning in 
the castle, whence the children had been purposely sent out, 
and they were gaily snowballing each other in the court- 
yard, while their father, all anxiety, was mechanically fol- 
lowing the clouds of smoke which his Oriental chibouque 
emitted. 

A sudden tumult startled him from this preoccupied state. 
It was the children all running up at once ; they were bring- 
ing a stranger who desired to speak to the master of the 
house. 

An extreme benevolence and delicate politeness were the 
distinctive qualities of M. de Cracovie, qualities which he 
passed on to all his children. At the sight of the stranger 
his anxiety gave room to a lively curiosity. The peculiar 
dress and distinguished demeanour of this man were well 
calculated to summon attention. 

M. de Cracovie having had him ushered into the saloon, 



22 MEMOIRS OF THE 

refreshments were officiously offered. As soon as the ser- 
vants had retired the stranger told quite simply how, being 
a Swede by birth and an astrologer by profession, he was 
travelling in the interest of science; he wanted to interview 
a famous rabbi who lived at Kozieniec, a little town not 
far from Wolczyn. 

Although familiar with cabalistic ideas, thanks to his 
former connection with Swedes, Poniatowski was imper- 
vious to practices of that nature. He could not conceal a 
slight smile. 

"Ah ! I see you doubt the finest, the sublimest of the privi- 
leges usurped by man, that of reading in the stars !" ex- 
claimed the astrologer. "Very well ! To conquer your un- 
belief and leave you a token of my visit and of my thanks 
for the kind reception I found under your roof, I will cast 
the horoscope of your children." Immediately all the 
brown and blond heads came forward, all the little hands 
were stretched out, and the seer, having asked the minutest 
details of the day and hour of birth of each child, pre- 
dicted the most splendid establishments for the girls and 
military renown, honour, and riches for the boys. 

At this moment the silence was disturbed by the cries 
of the new-born infant, which the midwife came to present 
to its father. Everybody surrounded it. 

The astrologer, after throwing a rapid glance at the child, 
seemed to be taken in another trance. 

"I salute you King of Poland !" he exclaimed aloud, "I 
salute you king from this very day, while you are yet 
ignorant of the rank to which you are predestined and the 
misfortunes to follow thereon !" 

However proof M. de Cracovie was against all manner 
of superstitions, his daughter assured us that he had more 
than once confessed, long before the prophecy was ful- 
filled, to having been seized by a mortal chill at the astrolo- 
ger's last words. 




Stanislaus C. Poniatowski, 
Commander of the forces of Charles XII. of Sweden. 

From an ejtgraving by Hopwood of a drawing by Peszka. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 23 

King Stanislaus Augustus, the object of the prophecy, 
never referred to it, but all his contemporaries remembered 
it and told it, each after his own fashion. 

How enviable is the superiority of character which allows 
us, without fear of ridicule, to admit freely that there are 
things one cannot explain, especially as it is impossible to 
deny them! 

Oh, for the good old days, when people believed in every- 
thing ! 

First, they believed in Providence, and that simplifies 
many things; then they believed in Paradise, which makes 
many sorrows endurable. They believed in virtue and in 
resistance to evil propensities, for the cleverest authors, the 
most entertaining romancers, had then not yet established 
that such resistance is at least superfluous, passion justify- 
ing any lapse. 

Faith was placed In miracles, disinterested love was be- 
lieved in, devotion in friendship, and even gratitude. 

After the serious beliefs came the amiable and superflu- 
ous beliefs — those that people reproached themselves for, 
and that must inexorably be confessed. 

They believed in philters, spells, presentiments, fortune- 
tellers, astrologers, ghosts! Those beliefs produced poets, 
visionaries, religious fanatics, heroes, and madmen! 

Now, the strongly equipped brains, the profound and 
positive minds, with which the age superabounds, refuse to 
believe in anything, or believe in nothing beyond bulls and 
bears ! 

God knows, however, whether bulls and bears rest on a 
surer foundation, and whether one is not often fooled by 
them ! 



CHAPTER IV 

MARRIAGE TO COUNT ALEXANDER POTOCKI 

1802 

MARRIAGE SCHEMES — ARRIVAL OF COUNT POTOCKI AT 

BIALYSTOK COUNT STANISLAUS POTOCKI COUNT TYSZ- 

KIEWICZ AND GENERAL BENINGSEN DEATH OF PAUL I. 

THE author's EDUCATION AND TASTES COUNTESS 

TYSZKIEWICZ MADAME SOBOLEWSKA. 

I WAS an only daughter; legacies from two large fortunes 
were coming to me. I had an old name, a pleasant face, 
and a thorough education. I was, in a word, what is con-- 
ventionally called a good match. At the age of fourteen I 
was to have married Prince Stanislaus Poniatowski, my 
mother's brother; but as he was approaching fifty, was 
lanky, dry, and sober, I would not hear of him, and I with- 
stood the inducements of jewels and a marriage outfit. 

My mind and my heart were, I cannot say exactly how, 
swelled with a sort of juvenile exaltation, nourished by the 
perusal of the great poets whom it had been impossible to 
keep from me. I wanted heroes like Racine's, or knights 
like Tancred. Mighty passions were my need, instanta- 
neous affections, great and sublime deeds ! I waited ! But 
as I finally perceived that neither Britannicus nor Gon- 

24 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 25 

zalvo of Cordova presented himself, and that not even a 
meeting- with Grandison was likely, I made up my mind to 
descend from the clouds, and sorrowfully reflected that I 
should be obliged to end by marrying, like everybody else, 
under the guidance of reason and expediency. 

Various matches were proposed to my parents. Some 
did not meet with their approval, not being brilliant enough ; 
the rest seemed to me out of the question because the suitors 
were unattractive. But at last M. Alexander Potocki de- 
clared himself, and as he, too, was acknowledged one of 
the best matches in Poland, he was accepted without hesi- 
tation. Our relations had arranged everything by letter, so 
tliat when Potocki arrived at Bialystok he knew before- 
hand that he would not be refused. 

I can still fancy myself hearing his carriage drive into 
our court of honour. It was on an evening of the month 
of April ; I had caught cold, and had been forbidden to leave 
my room. The sound of a post-horn roused me. I ran 
to the window, and saw a young man jump out, most grace- 
fully, from a travelling calash, and quickly mount the steps 
to the main entrance. I at once told myself this could be 
none other than the expected traveller. The emotions I 
underwent very much resembled fright! What would I 
not have given to be able to put off that first interview until 
the morrow! But I was not consulted, and I saw M. Po- 
tocki enter with my mother on his arm. 

He had been journeying afar; that was a great resource 
for a first call. He told us a lot of interesting things about 
London, about Paris — he had seen the great Napoleon! 
But on this point I found him not the least bit communi- 
cative. He spoke without particular enthusiasm of what 
he had seen, and did not seem at all dazzled by so much 
greatness and magnificence. 

Tea was served, and we scrutinised one another. M. 



26 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Potocki had seen me when I was very young indeed, at my 
mother's. I remembered him ; he had made the impression 
on me of a disdainful dandy who did not talk to little girls. 

We met again at that happy age when time, having put 
the finishing touches to his task, seems to halt, as if to 
enjoy its contemplation, but ready to compensate himself, 
some day, for the brief respite. We looked at each other 
surreptitiously, and experienced surprise mingled with sat- 
isfaction. We were better pleased with our prize than we 
had anticipated being. Three weeks elapsed, at the end 
of which we thought we knew and suited each other per- 
fectly. There was, however, not the slighest similarity in 
our characters and tastes. 

Count Stanislaus Potocki, my future father-in-law, soon 
joined us, so as to be present at our wedding. The count 
was one of the foremost personages of those times, which 
abounded with men of head and heart. His brother Igna- 
tius and himself had worked valiantly at the Constitution 
of May 3, and both were victims of their faithfulness, in 
a Russian and an Austrian dungeon expiating the noble 
impulse which had urged them to devote themselves to 
their country's liberty and independence. It is rare to see 
two brothers so richly endowed by nature; to the most 
pleasing exterior were added a superior mind and a prodig- 
ious education and memory, and, though men of the world, 
they knew everything and had time for everything. Prince 
Stanislaus, moreover, was gifted with artistic accomplish- 
ments to a degree I have never seen equalled by an ama- 
teur. Several journeys in Italy had helped to develop in 
him that noble love of the beautiful which constitutes, so 
to speak, an additional sense. Always kind and affable, he 
was always disposed to listen to those who came to him 
for advice. His light humour and extreme politeness con- 
trasted oddly with a vivacity, an irritability, which often 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 27 

gave rise to mirth. There were days when, at the least 
annoyance, he got angry like a child, and calmed down as 
quickly. It was above all funny to watch this statesman 
at play — this gentleman of taste, this great lord, who by his 
exquisite manners had been marked in every court of Eu- 
rope — to see him roused to the pitch of throwing cards and 
counters at his partner's head. And yet he played for 
penny points, and never would be paid. 

"Why," he exclaimed, in his amusing wrath, "if I were 
playing for blows with a stick, I should still want to win 1" 

I dwell upon these details since I take pleasure in speaking 
of my father-in-law, whom I dearly loved, and of whom I 
Icnow nothing but good. I owe him everything I know 
of architecture; he enjoyed cultivating this passion for the 
arts in me, which has since been the delight of life, and 
which my mother had sought to instil into me. 

But let us go back to my marriage, which took place at 
Wilna, where my father was stopping. As he was suffer- 
ing severely from an attack of the gout, he had been forbid- 
den to leave his room, and the ceremony was held in his 
saloon. 

A few days later my father-in-law, tired of enforced inac- 
tivity, and desirous of resuming his usual pursuits, took 
us off to Warsaw, where my mother-in-law was await- 
ing me. 

I took leave of my father with the dreadful presentiment 
that I should never see him again. His persistence in re- 
fusing to go away to take the waters cost him his life. He 
had become gloomy and melancholy, and left the country 
only as often as his health or business compelled him to go 
into town, where the contact with the Russian officials was 
odious to him. In order to escape it, his illness served as 
an excuse; he never went out, and even exempted himself 
from the ceremonial visits. General Beningsen, Governor 



28 MEMOIRS OF THE 

of Wilna for the time being, treated him with overwhelm- 
ing consideration, and frequently came to see him. One 
day he was so far carried away as to relate to him all the 
details of the famous conspiracy which had put Alexander 
on the throne. He even spoke of the part he had taken in 
the assassination. So far as I remember, he claimed the 
honour of being the first to lay hands upon the unhappy 
monarch, who defended his life with greater courage than 
was expected of him. Beningsen experienced no diffidence in 
talking of this scene of horror, in which one man had long 
held out against five murderers. He regarded himself as 
a modern Brutus. To say truth Paul's tyranny and his ex- 
travagances, which partook of cruelty in a certain measure, 
justified those who, having failed to force his abdication, 
found themselves obliged to take his life; but it is none 
the less the fact that you could not listen without shudder- 
ing to him who thus boasted of having played an active part 
in the drama. 

We left Wilna together. My mother preferred to remain 
at Bialystok, for she did not in any way wish to divert me 
from the duties my new position brought me. I felt a keen 
sorrow at separating from my mother. I had never left 
her before. She had taken a great interest in my educa- 
tion; I took my lessons in my room — some she gave me 
herself. Idle about everything not related to the things 
of the imagination or the arts, I would have liked to draw 
all day. And when, at thirteen, I read the "Iliad," I would 
not hear of any other book. My mother took alarm at 
what perhaps might have pleased a less sensible person. 
She was grave and cold; she had a just and sound mind; 
she was fond of study, and indulged in thinking from in- 
clination. Never was there a more striking contrast than 
that existing between our characters. 

My own experience has led me to see that education may, 












^ublu-hiJ- by JAsrcr/ii att/ij: 3Li'U-Lrcitrii:£cruAttiizcn..u-rnhiII IJiuiiJS 



Count Levin A. T. Beningsen. 
(A leader in the murder of the Czar Paul in 1801. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 29 

at the utmost, modify the temperament, but that it cannot 
change it. My mother frowned on exuberant merriment, 
on the taste for society and dress. I hid a thousand Httle 
things from her ; at the same time I never knew how to dis- 
semble, and I made more mistakes than one by too much 
candour. I was brought up alone, my sole recreation being 
to talk with old friends; in spite of that my good spirits 
remained inexhaustible. None but good examples were 
shown me. I read none but serious books ; none but things 
I might hear were told in my presence ; but I nearly always 
guessed what was supposed to be kept from me. It may 
be that without such close watching I should not at all 
have responded to the exertions lavished on me, but I am 
sure I only knew well what I had been taught least. 

I loved my mother tenderly, feeling that I owed her 
much, and that her high character demanded my fullest 
respect, but with this sentiment was connected a sort of fear 
which spoilt our intercourse. She wished for my confi- 
dence, and I often felt a desire to give it her entirely; but 
from the moment that my opinion or intention contradicted 
hers, she scolded me severely, and drove back a confession 
nearly slipping from my heart. 

I stood in need of an affection, if not tenderer, at least 
more confidential. Among the young people with whom 
chance had thrown me, was Madame Sobolewska. I felt 
attracted to her ; I liked the great sweetness of her face and 
manners. She was a few years older than I. To her ad- 
vantages she joined so much modesty and humility that one 
could not envy her for being a universal favourite, at which 
she alone seemed surprised. 

Whenever her agreeable and cultivated mind managed 
to escape from the strict reserve behind which she kept it 
concealed she was charming, and I have seen few women 
so amiable when she dared to be amiable. Her spirit shed 



30 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



something elevated and pure over all her actions. I felt 
better at leaving her. At first I loved her by instinct. 
When I learnt how to think I loved her because I found she 
was perfect, and I shall love her all my life, because this love 
has become my heart's necessity and habit. Never have 
I had a secret thought or act from her; never has she be- 
lieved me better than I am. In her heart I went to place 
my sorrows, my hopes, my joys, and my regrets, and I 
always found in her an indulgent friend, discreet beyond 
all proof, and a most gentle and pleasant companion. 

My mother ended by approving of our intimacy ; she was 
the only person she alloived me to love. 



CHAPTER V 

LANgUT AND PULAWY 

1803 

sentimental walk by moonlight — feminine guile — 
Bedding visits — the princess marshal — his grace 

of laon pulawy prince adam casimir czartory- 

ski his generosity the park at pulawy the 

gothic house reminiscences of the great fred- 
erick the emperor joseph ii. prince kaunitz. 

My husband and I reached Warsaw at the finest season of 
the year, and were soon estabhshed in Willanow, a beauti- 
ful district, famous through the memory of John Sobieski, 
who had made a home there. 

In taking possession of the charming apartments my 
mother-in-law had prepared for me, I fancied myself arrived 
at the summit of bliss. My mother had brought me up to 
habits of thrift, on principle, and I all at once found myself 
rich and independent. 

Without being passionately in love with my husband, I 
began to conceive a very tender fondness for him. I met 
my friend Madame Sobolewska again ; my adopted relatives 
were good and kind, and nothing was wanting to complete 
my happiness — unless a little more sense. Here is the 
proof of it. 

31 



32 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



A moonlight night was for some time to disturb the pure 
felicity I had been enjoying. I have already said that I 
was blessed with a romantic brain, and that a quiet, even 
state of things could not satisfy me for long. So the 
thought suddenly entered my head to have my husband 
madly in love with me. 

One evening, as we were promenading the bank of the 
Vistula, under those venerable trees which had shaded the 
less unsophisticated loves of the beautiful Marie d'Arquien, 
I brought round the conversation to sentiment. I main- 
tained that no happiness was possible on this earth ex- 
cept in a reciprocal attachment, both lively and enduring! 
My husband, after listening to me indulgently for a little 
while, looked at his watch, called my attention to the late- 
ness of the hour, observed that our cousins were becoming 
very tiresome, and that it was time to go in! 

I had started upon a note so different from that chosen 
by him for these remarks that, on reaching my room, I 
burst into tears, and called myself the most wretched woman 
in the world for being so misunderstood and taken in such 
a common way. I could not imagine that I might be loved 
as well in my room as out-of-doors in the moonlight. _ 

From that instant I thought of nothing but of the means 
of giving rise to a passion to which I attached my whole 
future and all my happiness. After mature deliberation I 
believed to have discovered that to make a husband miser- 
able he must first be made jealous, and, not wishing the 
participation of a third person in this little family poem, 
I wrought the notion of inditing an impassioned letter to 
myself. To make my epistle look more natural and real I 
sprinkled this avowal of a timid but ardent love with well- 
seasoned jokes about my surroundings. I disguised my 
handwriting so successfully that my husband (he found the 
note in an orange-tree box) was completely deceived, and 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 33 

took it to his mother for their mutual amusement. De- 
Hghted at having so properly mystified my friends, I tri- 
umphed, without suspecting what turn things were about 
to take. The jokes my letter contained, though highly in- 
nocent, annoyed my mother-in-law ; she read and re-read the 
note, examined the writing, and ended by discovering that 
I was the author of this little hoax. 

It was decided to put me to the test, and to ascertain how 
long I would stand by a falsehood, which must have ap- 
peared the more culpable as its object was unknown. My 
father-in-law was sent to me. 

Anxious, and already repenting what I had done, when 
I saw him enter my room with the demeanour of one com- 
ing to question me, I lost my head altogether, and, afraid 
to confess such silly conduct, denied it with extraordinary 
clumsiness. 

My father-in-law proceeded most delicately, and, seeing 
that I persisted, retired in favour of my husband, who began 
the cross-examination over again. I was dying of shame, 
but made a desperate defence. Ultimately, however, he 
wrested the fatal secret from me. I shed torrents of tears, 
and cast myself at his feet. He forgave me, because he 
understood what motive had actuated me, and saw no more 
than a childish freak in my hoax. It was otherwise with 
my mother-in-law. She became very disadvantageously 
impressed as to my character, and insisted in ascribing this 
silly, absurd letter to a taste for intrigue. It was the first 
time in my life that I had done anything of the kind. I 
nearly fell ill from vexation, and as I was supposed to be ap- 
proaching motherhood, every effort was made to pacify me. 

But I understood perfectly well that the attentions lav- 
ished upon me were exceptional, and that nothing could 
restore my mother-in-law's confidence and affection, she, 
though endowed with grand qualities, not having a fine 



34 MEMOIRS OF THE 

enough mind to distinguish all the different shades of feel- 
ing which crowded my heart. 

The hope of becoming a mother came as a timely diver- 
sion in my distressed condition, and as, above all, an heir 
was required, I became the object of a solicitude which 
might have been taken for extreme sympathy. I was quite 
ill for some time, which obliged my husband to postpone 
a round of visits we were to make, for I was to be presented 
to all all of my new-old relations. 

As soon as 1 was in a fit state we left for the castle of 
Langut, where my husband's grandmother. Princess Lubo- 
mirska, had set up her establishment. She was known as 
the Princess Marshal. It would hardly have been possible 
to meet with an individual who, in addition to many excel- 
lent qualities, boasted such peculiar whims. She liked nei- 
ther her children nor her country, and from sheer tedium 
was perpetually moving from place to place. Estranged 
from everything but the old traditions of the court of 
France, she was better acquainted with the age of Louis 
XIV. than with the events which had agitated her own 
country. A spectator of the horrors that had disgraced 
the revolution of 1789, and an intimate friend of the Pria- 
cess Lamballe, she hated all new ideas. To the princess. 
Napoleon was nothing but a miscreant, promoted by lucky 
chances to a height at which he could never remain. She 
avoided speaking of him, and when compelled to mention 
the abhorred name, she called the emperor little Bonaparte. 
Faithful to the Bourbons, she wore mourning for the Due 
d'Enghien, and showered her charity upon all the "emi- 
grants" she could pick up in the high roads. 

When we got to Langut we found His Grace the Bishop 
of Laon established in the castle. All the honours due to 
the tiara were rendered him. 

When the princess made her journey to Vienna, which 
happened nearly every winter, since her advanced years, to- 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 35 

gether with the change in, the dynasty, had prohibited a stay 
in Paris, nothing changed at Langut. Every morning the 
steward came for His Grace's orders. He was there as if in 
his own palace, and he surely was better off there than at 
home, for in no country have I seen any establishment at 
the same time so gorgeous and so elegant. As rich as a 
princess in the "Arabian Nights," the Lady Marshal had 
elected to indulge in English comforts and French tastes. 

She had, in addition, the merit of worthily employing 
the immense fortune placed in her hands by chance. Her 
generosity was remarkable in so far as she was entirely 
reasonable in dispensing it, and gave the benefit of it chiefly 
to her numerous vassals. There was not a village where 
she had not set up a school, a doctor, or a midwife. Her 
agents were charged with supervising these charitable insti- 
tutions, for, though she did require everything in her own 
house to be sumptuous and costly, she never neglected 
her poor. 

But, curiously and inexplicably, this same individual, 
whose name was blessed by the needy, and of whom none of 
her surroundings could complain, was hard and unjust to 
her children, who nevertheless adored her. 

From the first I perceived that my husband was being 
treated by her like a grandson, and that this antipathy ex- 
tended to myself. Still I was not discouraged, and by 
making Louis Quinze caps for the princess worked out my 
pardon for being Alexander's wife. 

After staying a fortnight at Lan^ut we repaired to 
Pulawy, a fine place belonging to Prince Czartoryski, broth- 
er to the Princess Marshal, and therefore our great-uncle. 
He was never called anything but Prince General. It was 
customary with us to be called by one's title, just as in 
France it was the custom to assume that of one's principal 
fief. 

This castle differed entirely from that which we had just 



36 MEMOIRS OF THE 

left. Everything here was devoid of elegance ; nothing was 
aimed at but to revive, or rather continue, old traditions, 
and to make no changes from ancestral habits. The inter- 
course was just as cordial as it was good-natured. At 
the very outset one felt at ease. Under frivolous externals 
the prince concealed the profound student. His condition 
was overlooked because of his jokes and frank jollity. His 
wit was subtle, brilliant, spontaneous; I have never met 
but the Prince de Ligne who could have been compared 
with him in this respect, but the Prince General had, be- 
sides, the noblest soul and the most elevated ideas. Had 
he not surrendered too soon to the seductions of society 
and all the futilities of life, few men would have ventured 
to oppose him, and his political influence would not have 
remained without notable results. 

When I saw him for the first time his advanced age had 
as yet detracted nothing from the grace and quickness of 
his wit. He was a little dry, powdered old gentleman, irre- 
proachably tidy and neat. I scarcely know on what occa- 
sion Joseph II. created him an Austrian field marshal, be- 
cause he had never been to war. However that may be, 
under this foreign uniform and these hostile colours beat 
a noble heart, full of patriotism and steadfastness. His 
perfect kindness showed itself at all times, and he was adored 
throughout the country. He had a number of poor gentle- 
men educated at his own expense, he took a personal interest 
in their characters, followed their progress, made them 
travel, etc. A number of distinguished subjects owed the 
development of their abilities to what was called the Pulawy 
School, a school to which the prince's generosity gave an 
immense scope since it had branches as far as France and 
England. He thus compromised a large fortune, and in- 
curred debts which his sons afterwards paid. 

That was a fine aristocracy, and which, I venture to say, 




Countess Sophie Zajmovska {nee Czartoryska) 

From an engraving by Hopiiiood ajtcr Isabey. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



37 



could only be met with in Poland. When the Prince Gen- 
eral had assured the future of a deserving family, he would 
go and secretly thank them for the confidence they had 
placed in him. His savings affected his own table solely. 
Highly frugal himself, and condemned by his physician to 
take his modest repast alone, he was always the first to 
laugh at our bad dinners. But there were fifty people at 
table, and at least a hundred lived on the dessert. When, 
having finished his hermit's meal, he circulated among us, 
it was a universal delight; he amused all the guests with 
his jovial humour. If he accidentally met his steward, he 
tapped him on the shoulder, asking him if he was still faith- 
ful to the same system. 

"For," said he, "that rascal has made a vow never to 
serve but new wine and old beef!" 

The princess, Isabel Czartoryska, was at that time busy 
with paupers. From early morning her door was besieged 
by all the poor and all the sick of the neighbouring villages. 
After attending to the wants of each one, she repaired to her 
magnificent garden, and spent a great part of the day in 
superintending the work there. 

The buildings in the park at Pulawy are highly interest- 
ing. The most notable is devoted to historical and national 
relics; it is a copy of the Sibylline Temple so much ad- 
mired at Tivoli. The intelligent architect to whom the 
erection of this edifice was entrusted went to Italy so as 
to reproduce it faithfully, and he acquitted himself of his 
task to a marvel. The same proportions are there, the 
same accuracy of detail, the same solidity of construction, 
and, as the Italian sky is the only thing not to be imitated, 
a dome of a single piece of glass idealises our foggy at- 
mosphere. 

Collected there are our kings' insignia, our queens' jewels, 
our great men's arms, as well as trophies captured from 



38 MEMOIRS OF THE 

the enemy. Nothing so grand, nothing so noble as an exhi- 
bition of patriotic reHcs among which every family become 
illustrious by a great deed has deposited its title to immor- 
tality ! 

The impediment of the temple bears an inscription which 
seems to recapitulate at once our greatness, our reverses, 
and our hopes : The Past to the Future. May this sacred 
bequest be spared by time, so that our posterity may sharpen 
their swords on the steps of this glorious temple ! 

A second building, called the Gothic House, is in an en- 
tirely different style, a happy combination of the Flemish 
and the Moorish, a structure recommended at different pe- 
riods, one would say, and consummated with exquisite taste. 
The princess took pleasure in enriching it with treasures 
from all countries, and in mustering celebrities of all times 
there. 

Close to a plait of Agnes Sorel's hair, kept in a magnifi- 
cent rock crystal case, mounted with precious stones, is 
the unshapely bowl used for the anointing of the Russian 
czars, carried off from Moscow by our braves. Under an 
admirable portrait of Raphael, painted by himself, is Shake- 
speare's arm-chair, of which the worm-eaten wood is reli- 
giously covered with brass and velvet. Near by is a table 
that had been Voltaire's property, and the handsomely 
chased key opens a drawer in which innumerable valuables 
are accumulated. First, a collection of letters from dis- 
tinguished men who adorned the age of Louis XIV., among 
them a fine one of Turenne, written entirely by his own 
hand a few days before his death ; a little book, with its old- 
fashioned binding, containing plans of fortifications drawn 
by Marshal Vauban, who dedicated this set to the Duke of 
Burgundy; autograph letters of all the kings of France, 
from Francis I. to Napoleon; Madame de la Valliere's 
prayer-book, and a number of curiosities of the kind, which 
one regrets to pass by casually. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



39 



The walls of this building are covered with old inscrip- 
tions bearing principally upon Polish history. The prin- 
cess was engaged upon a descriptive catalogue of her treas- 
ures, and engravings are now being made of the prominent 
objects of this valuable collection. It is a most extensive 
work, and shows to what degree the princess has studied 
the history of the various countries from which the relics 
were gathered. The French Revolution contributed to the 
contents of the Gothic House. At a time when antiquities 
were sold at a discount Countess Zamoyska, the princess's 
daughter, being in Paris in those delirious days, acquired 
articles now priceless. 

I cannot say how interesting and agreeable it was to 
listen to her, who, after spending a lifetime in bringing so 
many curiosities and rarities together, exhibited them her- 
self, telling some strange story about nearly every one. 

In the evening, when, having wandered about the beau- 
tiful park and gardens, we met at the hostess', I took pleas- 
ure in calling up her varied reminiscences. She had trav- 
elled a great deal, and, though already far advanced in 
years, she discussed the historical personages she introduced 
as if she had left them the day before. 

Being presented at the court of Frederick the Great, she 
had contrived to slip into his study one day, just as he had 
gone out. That, she said, was taking a man in the act. 

In front of a desk covered with papers and maps a plate 
of cherries was provided with a ticket written by the king's 
hand : / leave eighteen. Quite near by an old hussar uni- 
form, spread out over a sofa, awaited inexpensive repairs. 
Next to a letter from Voltaire, still open, lay a grocer's 
bill — the court grocer's. A sheet of music was thrown at 
haphazard on a desk, and not far from this harmonious 
appeal stood a curule chair, similar to that in the capitol, 
with this difference, that one is in old crimson, and the 
other was in wood with nothing to conceal its common use. 



40 MEMOIRS OF THE 

That was certainly a queer study for a king ! Napoleon put 
his right of conquest to much better purpose than Frederick 
his right of birth. 

An infinite amount of tact was requisite to keep out of 
trouble between the two courts in Berlin. The king had 
his, all composed of soldiers and men of learning. The 
queen, whom he never saw, gathered the fashionable women 
of the highest society and aristocracy about her. Whoever 
frequented one of the courts was in bad odour at the other. 
It was almost equivalent to ostracism. 

When the king spoke of his wife, which rarely happened, 
he never called her anything but "old fool" ; vice versa she 
called him "the old rascal," or "the old thief." 

Frederick had a sparkling wit, but was harsh and dis- 
agreeable. Princess Czartoryska much preferred the con- 
versation of Emperor Joseph II., with whom she had had 
the opportunity of becoming closely acquainted. The un- 
happy Marie- Antoinette, having admitted her to intimacy, 
had given her a letter to her brother, cautioning her to hand 
it over secretly, as all her actions were under minute obser- 
vation. The princess eagerly acquitted herself of the deli- 
cate mission. The Emperor Joseph, after dilating on alL 
the probable and possible chances of the Revolution, then 
already brewing, one day exclaimed, as if animated by a 
prophetic spirit: 

"It will go on like that until a man of mighty genius 
seizes the reins of authority and puts things back in their 
place. As far as my sister is concerned, I believe it is, un- 
fortunately, too late! And I much fear that she will be 
a victim to her own imprudence and to the weakness of the 
king, her husband." 

Joseph II. was one of the wittiest men of his time. He 
liked society, and took pleasure in conversation. His im- 
mediate circle was composed of several charming women. 




Joseph II., Emperor of Germany. 

From an old engraving. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 4 1 

among whose number Princess Czartoryska occupied a 
prominent place. Some of her recollections were handed 
down to us. 

One day, at the end of dinner, she related that she had 
known Prince Kaunitz, who had a varied reputation, and 
incidentally one for impudence. Having fine teeth, he at- 
tended to them without the slightest regard for his guests. 
As soon as the table was cleared his valet put a mirror, a 
basin, and brushes before him, and then and there the prince 
began his morning toilet over again, just as if he had been 
alone in his dressing-room, while every one was waiting 
for him to finish, to get up from the table. 

I could not suppress my astonishment, and asked the 
princess if she, too, had waited. 

"Yes, alas !" she replied, "I was so put out of counte- 
nance that I only recovered my senses at the foot of the 
stairs ; but later on it was different : I complained of the 
heat, and left the table at dessert." 

At this same dinner a Venetian nobleman, named Grande- 
nigo, sat near Prince Kaunitz. The prince, who was in 
good humour, amused himself by addressing him at the 
top of his voice, dubbing him grand nigaud. The poor 
foreigner knew no French, and, taken aback by the immod- 
erate laughter, asked his neighbour for an explanation. 

"His Highness," was the answer, "likes people to be 
jolly at his table!" 

But the Venetian, not quite reassured by this answer, 
remained moody, and took no notice of the dishes offered 
him. The prince, having noticed that this absent-minded- 
ness interfered with the service, said aloud to his house 
steward : 

"Why don't you give him a dig in the ribs?" 

To hear such details would you not fancy yourself some 
centuries back? Certainly Prince Metternich, who to- 



42 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

day fills Prince Kaunitz's place, would not venture such 
peculiar manners, even if he were tempted to do so, which 
I am far from presuming he ever would be, having always 
known him to be perfectly decorous and polite. I will not 
say as much for his wife. 




Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz. 



J 



CHAPTER VI 

MYSTERIES 
• 1803 

RETURN TO TOWN THE SEER A TRAP SET AN EVENING 

AT THE FRENCH THEATRE, WARSAW MYSTERIOUS DRIVE 

THE soothsayer's DEN CONSULTATION THE BLACK 

CURTAIN RISES AN APPARITION THE SUPPER KEY TO 

THE RIDDLE PRINCE RADZIWILL AN ANNOYING MOTH- 
ER-IN-LAW BIRTH OF AN HEIR NATOLINE. 

Winter took us back to town. My husband's parents were 
already settled there, and we went to live at their house. 
Soon after my mother moved into hers, to be present at 
my confinement. 

I believe I have already made it plain that I had a taste 
for the marvellous, and that my imagination delighted in 
uncommon things. Knowing that my father-in-law was 
a freemason, and that he was a frequenter of the Grand 
Oriental, a very well known lodge then existing in Warsaw, 
I was seized with a violent desire to penetrate mysteries of 
whose importance I entertained exaggerated notions. I 
would burn with curiosity, while trem.bling with fear, when 
I was told of the shadows and flames through which you 
had to beat a path, of the windows from which you were 

43 



44 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



forced to leap into the abyss, of the nails on which you 
were obliged to walk ! 

I had vainly tried to make my father-in-law gossip; he 
laughed me in the face, and remained inscrutable, which 
threw me into despair. All of a sudden I thought I ob- 
served how he, usually so talkative and communicative, 
had moments of preoccupation. Often dinner was delayed 
for him, he arrived late, appeared abstracted, sometimes he 
even did not come at all. My mother-in-law evidently 
knew what the reason was of these absences, for they did 
not seem to trouble her ; but she kept silence. I questioned 
my husband, who confirmed his father's preoccupation, but 
asserted not to know its reason. 

Things remained at that for some time, while my curios- 
ity only grew. At last, one fine day, my mother-in-law 
hazarded a half-confession, and told me she was beginning 
to fear the discovery of secret gatherings of which a cele- 
brated seer was the object, and which gatherings engrossed 
my father-in-law more every day. She enjoined the most 
scrupulous discretion on me, and made me promise to say 
nothing to my husband, in pretence urging his possible 
anxiety. I shall not examine the case: did she do well or 
not to teach me to have secrets from my husband? The 
answer is delicate — but I will confess it cost me much not 
to speak to him of what exclusively occupied my mind. 

My father-in-law being in poor health, his habits were 
very carefully regulated, and every day, about the same 
hour, he took a turn in a closed carriage. I frequently 
accompanied him, as in my condition I also required exer- 
cise, and the weather did not permit me to walk as much 
as I was accustomed to. 

One morning, when we had driven farther than usual, he 
seemed more rapt and taciturn than ever. I could hold out 
no longer, and ventured a question — it was what he was 
trying to lead me unto. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 45 

After a few commonplaces he said, as if carried away in 
spite of himself, ''If you were not so young, and if I might 
count on absolute secrecy, I could tell you some astonish- 
ing things." 

What more was necessary ? I begged, I implored, I even 
swore! And so I learnt that a seer versed in the occult 
sciences was in hiding in one of the suburbs of the town. 

"I have seen more than one," said my father-in-law to 
me, "in the different countries I have travelled in, but never 
have I met with anything comparable to this." 

He then confided to me that there were several, all clever 
people, (I knew them), who every evening went secretly to 
hear and see things — such extraordinary things that, if he 
told them to me, I should refuse to believe them ! 

I was listening so intently that I did not notice the car- 
riage was entering the court of our house. 

That day I was unable to reintroduce a subject of which 
I was thinking all day and dreaming all night. 

The next day the confidences became more explicit. I 
found that for a sum of money, which would go to the 
poor, the seer affecting philanthropy, I might hope for ad- 
mission across the threshold of the sanctuary, if not for 
initiation into all the wonders which adepts only have the 
right to know. It was much more than I dared ask; up 
till then my modest hopes had been limited to hearing an 
account of the miracles. 

In high glee, I therefore hastened to get the money I 
had saved, and in return obtained a half -promise ; because 
the first thing was to touch the seer's heart by the charities 
he could perform gratis, and thus imperceptibly dispose him 
to receive me. 

These difficult negotiations absorbed some days more, 
which to me were as centuries ; but at length my father-in- 
law came with the announcement that, having declared him- 
self responsible for me, and my offering having been ac- 



46 MEMOIRS OF THE 

cepted, I should be called to hear what few ears had heard, 
and to see what few eyes had seen. I burst into such trans- 
ports of joy as to frighten him. And now that I recollect 
all the emotions to which I was exposed I still feel sur- 
prise that my health was not injured. 

The day of the ordeal once fixed, it was agreed that I 
should go to the French theatre as usual, and that at the 
appointed hour my father-in-law should sign to me, that I 
should then complain of the heat, and that he should offer 
to take me home. Only he advised me to provide myself 
with a veil, seeing that a woman of quality must never take 
the risk of being recognised when she goes on a mysterious 
errand, wheresoever it be. 

At the moment I got into the carriage I perceived that 
the lamps were not lit, and the servants not wearing livery. 

"It is compulsory under such circumstances," said my 
father-in-law. "I suppose that will not frighten you." 

And didn't I vow that nothing could shake my courage! 
I nevertheless began to feel my nerves greatly agitated. 

The carriage travelled with extreme speed. We thus 
traversed a considerable distance. As it was very cold the 
windows were up, and I could not tell through what streets- 
we were passing. The coachman had been told to go where 
he zvcnt every evening. Suddenly we left the pavement! 

"Then it is outside the town?" I enquired. 

"Yes, of course, because this man is obliged to hide; 
were he discovered he would be arrested. And further," 
added my father-in-law, "do not for an instant forget that 
the least indiscretion would infallibly ruin us." 

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "How absurd governments are to 
thus persecute science !" 

Soon the carriage rolled over paving stones; we entered 
a court; we stopped, and the footman silently opened the 
door. My father-in-law got out quickly, and asked me to 



The Grand National Theatre at Warsaw. 

Engraved by Piliiiski after Corazzi. 





.y-^^^^-^ 


# 




t- 


.n 


^^ 


i^^feyi^diia. ^ 


ill . ■ ' 


""^"^"^ °^5^^Hi 


1iir: ^B^iHl^mil*lvl"Bt 


-Jl^^^Y'AAiH! 


^^^^^^^^w^^w^g^iirri'yi;(jflT!i|"'™'M(a^^^E 






^^ 1 ffM 


■. _^V 




The Kopernik House in Warsaw, 
Visited by Napoleon in 1807. Built in 1473. 

From an engraznng by Piliiiski after I\Iielcarze%vicz. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 47 

wait a few minutes for a light. Entire darkness and still- 
ness reigned. I already felt a little less heroical. How- 
ever a lively curiosity still kept up my courage. My fa- 
ther-in-law came back in the company of a little man in a 
black coat; he was carrying a dark lantern. The staircase 
was narrow and steep, and I climbed up with difficulty. 

"So this," I thought, "is how beings live who are gifted 
with occult faculties." 

When we had entered a small antechamber, which was 
cold and gloomy, our guide, who was the seer's domestic, 
bowed without proffering a word, and left us in complete 
darkness. 

,/'Now," said my father-in-law, "I shall give the proper 
sign !" 

He knocked three times in quite a special manner. After 
a moment's waiting we heard a sepulchral voice, which 
uttered but these three words : ''Enter, my brother!" 

At that instant I began to tremble like a leaf, and I caught 
my father-in-law's arm. 

The room in which we now were was large and dim. A 
small lamp furnished with a shade threw a feeble light; 
the lamp was standing on a large table in the centre of the 
room covered with a black cloth. Seated by this spe- 
cies of desk, an old man, whose strange costume reminded 
one rather of the Oriental than the European, was read- 
ing attentively. Absorbed in his book, the man did not 
so much as raise his eyes at our approach. He wore enor- 
mous spectacles, his white hair fell over his shoulders, and 
his bent, so to say suffering, posture indicated long labours. 
A wooden inkstand, a death's head, and a pile of huge folios 
heaped on the table completed the scenic accessories. 

The place had no furniture, the walls were bare; I only 
noticed, quite at the end, a great curtain of black cloth, 
which covered the whole of the back wall and seemed to 



48 MEMOIRS OF THE 

conceal something. Near by was a convex mirror of vast 
dimensions mounted in a black wooden frame. 

"It is there," thought I, "it is surely in that mirror that 
the future appears, and the curtain probably veils fantastic 
apparitions." For to my eyes everything wore a super- 
natural aspect. 

We had come in noiselessly. 

"Master!" said my father-in-law at last, and the old man 
raised his head. "Here is the young woman I mentioned 
to you; her heart, as you knozv, is full of charity, and her 
spirit eager for light; but as she yet knows neither Greek 
nor Latin, vouchsafe to speak to her in French." 

The seer turned to me. 

"What do you wish, my sister?" he said in the gravest 
tone. 

What I certainly wished for most at that particular mo- 
ment was to be back in my saloon, with the candlesticks 
lighted, in the midst of the pleasant company awaiting me 
there. But I took good care not to show my fright, and 
merely threw my father-in-law a supplicating glance, so as 
he might help me to say what / was supposed to wish. 

"She knows, master, that you rule over nature, that your 
profound knowledge enables you to see everything, and that 
the spirits are at your order. She would therefore like to 
witness one of those marvels in which you are proficient." 

The old man bowed his head, and appeared absorbed in 
thought. The deepest silence once more prevailed. Find- 
ing myself near the folios, I mechanically put out my hand, 
with the thought of opening one of the volumes. 

"Do not touch that!" cried the little man. "You would 
see pictures that would freeze you with terror; the profane 
cannot examine the contents of my books unimperilled !" 

This rather long sentence revealed to my ear the sound 
of a not unfamiliar voice, and I went over to my father- 
in-law to whisper to him : 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



49 



"That is absolutely M. de R 's voice." 

"That is true; the first time I was struck by it, as you 
are," he replied so simply as to leave me no suspicion. 

"What does the sister say?" asked the old man. 

"She admires the grave and majestic sound of your 
voice," answered my father-in-law. 

The seer bowed with apparent humility, like a man from 
whom the awe he instils has wrested the avowal of a rash 
promise. 

"Since the brother demands," he said, "and since he is 
answerable for you, my sister, speak freely : what do you 
ask to see? The beasts of the Apocalypse, the dead, or the 
absent?" 

I felt faint at the bare idea of the dead and the beasts, 
and I replied : "The absent." 

"I warn you," resumed the seer, "that my power does 
not reach beyond the seas, and that it only extends over a 
surface of twelve thousand six hundred and forty leagues. 
From this decide whom you wish to see appear." 

My affections being concentrated on a single spot of the 
globe, I excused him twelve thousand six hundred and 
thirty leagues, and asked to see my mother, my husband, 
and my friend Madame Sobolewska. 

"Very well. But you are not yet an adept, and you can 
therefore," he gravely went on, "not witness the preliminary 
ceremonies. Retire to the adjoining room for a minute." 

Whether I liked it or not, I was obliged to return to the 
cold and gloomy antechamber we had passed through on 
our arrival. It was the last trial, and not the least! To 
be left thus alone, after the emotions I had gone through, 
seemed to be beyond my strength. Propped up against the 
door, I began to reproach myself with an apparently crim- 
inal inquisitiveness, and, fervently praying to my good 
angel to protect me, I promised him faithfully never to try 
anything of the kind again. 



50 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



After a few minutes my father-in-law opened the door, 
and called me in. 

"Sister, you shall be satisfied! But I warn you, that if 
you take one step or speak one word the charm will be 
broken and everything will disappear. Now attend care- 
fully. You will see those who are dear to you, and in the 
very place where they are at this hour." 

After delivering this speech with imposing solemnity, 
the old man clapped his hands three times. The black cur- 
tain I had noticed when we came in opened as if by itself, 
and through a thin mist I saw the box I had lately left and 
the three people mentioned, who bore the appearance of lis- 
tening attentively, as though the play, of which I had only 
seen the first act, was not yet over. The features, the dress, 
the gestures, all, in fact, was so perfectly exact that I could 
not suppress a cry of astonishment. The curtain fell, and 
I heard shouts of laughter. 

'T declare!" said my father-in-law, "you have exhibited 
such bravery that you cannot be refused complete initia- 
tion into all the witchcraft practised in this house. Come." 

And drawing me to the mysterious curtain, he opened it ; 
and I saw, not through a mist, but quite distinctly, a lav- 
ishly bedecked table, lit up with a hundred candles, about 
which all our friends were supping jovially. I was dumb 
with amazement. 

They got up, they surrounded me, they asked me what 
I thought of my taste for the marvellous. 

The marvellous ! I could not speak, I did not know what 
to reply. I was unable to distinguish the reality from the 
imitation. 

"But where are we?" I asked at last. 

"In the house of M. M , who is away from home. 

You have come by a thousand turns; you have even been 
outside the town." 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 5 1 

"And the mysterious entrance?"- 

"A little back staircase which you had never been up." 

"And the seer ?" 

"M. de R ; you were on the point of recognising 

him by his voice." 

"And the mist?" 

"Gauze." 

"And the box?" 

"Painted on paper." 

"And the large folios I was not allowed to touch?" 

"The Journey to Naples and Sicily." 

"And the banquet?" 

"Your savino"s of a hundred ducats devoted to the seer's 
charities." 

"But then my father-in-law's fits of abstraction?" 

"A long prepared hoax." 

The cleverest, the most surprising thing in all this de- 
ception was to have calculated the degree of my courage 
and of my affections so well, and to have guessed in ad- 
vance that I should not trouble the repose of the dead, and 
that I should want to call up the very people my friends 
had thought of. 

My mother and my husband had not been admitted into 
the secret of the preparations; it was only coming away 
from the play that my mother-in-law apprised them of the 
place to go to, and of what was to happen. It had been 
justly feared that their solicitude might lead them to betray 
a mystery on which the success of the supper party depended, 
and which was not without a useful object. I learnt how 
easy it is to lead the imagination astray and to abuse cre- 
dulity, as I am sure that had I left at the instant the cur- 
tain fell, and had I been taken home by the same circuitous 
way that I had come, it would afterwards have been difficult 
to guide me to a proper appreciation of things of the kind. 



52 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



I should have remained convinced that seers have intimate 
relations with spirits, and that nothing supernatural is im- 
possible to them. 

I was not at all piqued at having been tricked ; quite the 
contrary, no one enjoyed it more. But that evening brought 
me an immeasurable series of revelations. For at least a 
fortnight I must perforce relate to those who had not been 
there the details of the whole proceedings, explain to some, 
reassure others, repeat the same thing ten times a day, say 
the same names over and over, I thought it would kill me, 
and was finally tempted to answer like one of Prince Radzi- 
will's familiars, who, called to witness by that notorious 
joker to prove that the prince had taken part in a famous 
battle, said : "I could scarcely guarantee the fact, my Lord 
Prince, having been killed in the beginning of the action." 
During said battle the prince, seeing his ammunition would 
fail, picked up the balls that came after him with his hands, 
and immediately loaded the cannons with them, so as to 
send them back to the enemy hot. This same Radziwill, 
who was living in Paris at the commencement of Louis 
XV. 's reign, created a great sensation by his extravagances. 
He never bought but half or quarter of a shop, saying it 
took too much time to select, and that it was shorter to 
throw the things you did not want out of the window after- 
wards. The grateful Parisians gave his name to an arcade 
which still exists. 

The rest of the winter passed quietly, without any re- 
markable occurrences, unless for myself, whose yet novel 
mode of life was composed of a thousand little happenings 
which cling to the memory in the ratio of the impression 
they made. 

Though living with our parents, we had separate house- 
holds. I therefore thought it quite allowable to invite 
guests, and occasionally to gather about me the people I 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 53 

liked best. We were so considerate as to take the days 
when my mother-in-law was not alone, and we believed she 
would raise no objections to our little parties, where the 
oldest guest was under thirty. Alas, it was not so! She 
was piqued, and thought she saw an impolite exclusion in 
what was simply a desire to be rid of ceremony and enjoy 
the pleasures of people of our own age. Had she expressed 
herself openly, we would readily have sacrificed those brief 
hours of boisterous jollity; but she was angry i]i silence^ 
and from that time a kind of constraint sprang up between 
us which never vanished. 

The 17th of March, after twenty-eight hours of the keen- 
est sufferings, I brought a son into the world, whose birth, 
so ardently desired, crowned my hopes. 

Since then I have had two children, but never have I 
again felt the sensation which the first cry of that first child 
gave me. My joy was a fever which for some minutes 
obliterated my sense of weakness; I tried to get up to go 
over to look at my son. But I fell back exhausted by the 
extreme pains I had gone through. Young and strong, I 
quickly recovered, and the ninth day, stretched out on my 
sofa, I received the usual visits of congratulation. 

It seemed as though my happiness was assured for the 
future by the birth of an heir. Alas ! with health the petty 
bickerings returned, and we finally concluded that although 
we were very well off with our relatives, it would be best 
to be at home. It was at this time that we went to reside 
at Natoline, and that I began to take an interest in that 
delightful country-seat. 

I did so most ardently. I sketched out all the plans; 
I entered into all the details. Without having seen them, 
I pictured Italy and Greece. My father-in-law was my 
mentor, and seemed proud of having made an artiste of me. 
From that moment I abandoned all other fancies, and my 



54 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

pride and my ambition were concentrated upon Natoline,that 
little gem which to me seemed worthy of immortality. 

When we were short of money I sold some of my dia- 
monds, so as to buy bronzes and marbles. My husband 
appeared to share my tastes, and, though rather cold and 
unenthusiastic, took pride in my purchases. 

Happy months, when sleepless nights were never due to 
anything but a rioting imagination ! How often did I dream 
with open eyes! How impatiently did I await daybreak, 
so that I might jot down on paper the ideas that had origi- 
nated in the calm of the night ! 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER AT WILLANOW 

1805 

AN UNEXPECTED GUEST — PRINCE ADAM CZARTORYSKI — THE 

DINNER — Alexander's conversation — the visitors' 

BOOK. 

One evening, as we were quietly drinking tea by our fire- 
side, a letter was handed to my husband. As its contents 
evidently surprised him, I insisted on knowing its source. 
He told me to guess who the stranger was that was an- 
nounced for the next day. Well might I try; I could not 
guess. 

How, indeed, could I have imagined that it was the Em- 
peror Alexander and his train whom we were to prepare 
to receive? 

The more sovereigns I saw, the more I became convinced 
that they have no inkling of the inconvenience and em- 
barrassment they stir up. From the cradle up they hear 
so much of the bliss they shower on those who receive them, 
that they do not in the least imagine what a nuisance their 
visits are. 

Our servants did wonders. The proximity of a large 
town being of assistance in an impromptu of this sort, they 

55 



56 MEMOIRS OF THE 

succeeded beyond our expectations, and at two o'clock all 
was ready. 

I had invited my uncle, Prince Poniatowski, as well as 
his sister, Countess Tyszkiewicz, begging them to help me 
do the honours at this royal banquet — me, poor novice, who 
was to begin with an autocrat ! 

The emperor arrived at four o'clock. He was young 
and handsome ; but, although he had a very good figure, he 
seemed to me elegantly turned rather than nobly and im- 
posingly. His manner lacked the sort of ease which one 
expected. He appeared to be constrained; his excessive 
politeness had something commonplace about it; and every- 
thing, to the starchness of the tightest of uniforms, lent 
him the air of a charming officer much more than that of 
a young ruler. 

Prince Adam Czartoryski, a son of the Prince General's, 
accompanied Alexander. It was said that the emperor, in- 
fluenced by this friend, who knew no affection but love of 
his country, had inspired the autocrat with the resolve 
to set Poland up again. What there is no doubt of is 
that the Prussians, then masters of Warsaw, would not 
allow the emperor to pass through the town, for fear of the 
enthusiasm his presence might evoke at a moment when it 
was openly affirmed that he was about to declare himself 
King of Poland. And that it was which secured us the 
honour of his visit. 

The Prussian General Kalkreuth, the commandant at 
Warsaw, had been ordered to go to meet Alexander, and 
escort him back to the frontier — a supererogatory cere- 
mony which blinded no one, and made every one laugh. 

I do not remember how my husband arrived at His Maj- 
esty's wishes with regard to the persons who were to sit at 
his table. Anyhow, only Prince Czartoryski and General 
Kalkreuth had that honour. The rest of the staff dined In 




Emperor Alexander I. of Russia. 

From an engraving' of iSob, by Hopwood. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 57 

a separate room. Prince Poniatowski having sent his ex- 
cuses, my aunt came without him. We were therefore only- 
six at table. 

A place had been laid in solitude at the head of the table. 
The emperor seemed put out about it, and pushed his arm- 
chair close to my seat. He ate little and talked a great 
deal. His conversation was simple and reserved; it was 
not to be gathered that his resources were great, but it was 
im.possible not to allow him elevation of sentiment and in- 
finite tact. The events which brought him were scarcely 
hinted at, and his few remarks on the subject were very 
guarded. The generals composing his staff were not so 
^ modest ; they asked us for commissions to do in Paris, think- 
ing that their conquests and their triumphs would stop only 
there. But a month after our illustrious host's departure we 
learnt that he had been beaten at Austerlitz, and had re- 
treated in a continuous march to St. Petersburg. 

To go back to the dinner, which was a very prolonged 
affair: Alexander could not hear distinctly, and, like all 
young deaf people, affected a very low tone of speech. 
You did not venture to make him repeat what he had said, 
out of respect, so you generally answered at random. 

After passing into the drawing-room he remained there 
a good two hours, standing up the whole time. It was 
asserted his clothes were so tight that any other attitude 
was uncomfortable. About midnight he finally retired, 
choosing the simplest rooms made ready for his reception. 

The next day we had to rise early, to take part at His 
Majesty's breakfast, and go through the leave-taking. My 
health was not at all suited for all these exertions. About 
to enter his carriage, the emperor most affably asked me 
if there was no way of expressing his thanks. 

I had a strong notion, seeing him so well disposed, to ask 
for Poland. But a look from my husband, who had guessed 



58 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

my thoughts, checked that patriotic outburst, and sent me 
back to the limits prescribed by custom and by etiquette, 
which does not lend itself to any species of improvisation, 
and one of the most positive precepts of which is never to 
ask princes for anything they have not beforehand decided 
not to refuse. 

So we had to content ourselves with asking Alexander to 
inscribe his name in the large visitors' book at Willanow, 
where all strangers commemorate themselves. He was 
good enough to sign his name on the first page. Little did 
we think that the name of Napoleon would soon be written 
next to the Emperor of Russia's. 




General Kalkreuth. 

From an old engrax'ing. 



Part the Second 
THE FRENCH AT WARSAW 

1806 — 1807 



CHAPTER I 
THE VANGUARD 

■IeND of the war with PRUSSIA ENTRY OF A FRENCH 

REGIMENT INTO WARSAW M. DE F T MURAT BALL 

GIVEN BY PRINCE PONIATOWSKI MURAT's PLUME. 

THE first summer of our residence in the country sped 
by extremely fast, absorbed as we were in innumer- 
able tasks and schemes. We returned to Warsaw about 
the end of October. 

Daily newspapers not being, as they are to-day, one of 
the prime necessities of life, very few people subscribed. 
On post days the gates of the privileged were besieged by 
all who were curious to know what was going to become 
of the Prussian monarchy. 

No one doubted Napoleon's star for an instant. He was 
certain to come back victorious from this campaign, as he 
had from all the others; but nobody expected so prompt a 
triumph over an army which gloried in its unbroken disci- 
pline and its recent successes. From that moment the anni- 
hilation of Prussia and the re-establishment of Poland 
seemed a probable result to the wisest. 

The public disguised its sentiments and hopes so little 

6i 



62 MEMOIRS OF THE 

that the Prussians, the detested masters of a country they 
had not conquered, but which had fallen to them in the Par- 
tition of 1795, could not be mistaken as to the feelings the 
events called forth. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged 
that no one was interfered with. The Prussian authorities 
contented themselves with intercepting as much news as pos- 
sible. Newspapers were stopped, letters burnt, the trium- 
phal march of the French army was carefully kept from 
us; but the glorious echo of the victory of Jena and Napo- 
leon's entry into Berlin could not be stifled for long. 

Henceforth every brain was heated, and no further efforts 
were made to conceal our delight. The restaurants were 
filled with ebullient youths, who, clinking glasses, sang 
patriotic songs, and shouted for their liberators and their 
brothers. 

General Kalkreuth, the commandant of the town, having 
become secretly apprised that the emperor had left Berlin 
and was marching upon Posen, despatched a courier in full 
haste to get instructions, for, being forgotten amid all the 
confusion, he was in a very awkward situation. All the 
while planning his retreat, he contrived so well to keep the 
movements of the Grand Army wrapt in mystery that jA^e 
learnt of the departure from Berlin and Napoleon's entry 
into Posen almost the same day. 

That was the signal of retreat for the Prussian authori- 
ties, who decamped from Warsaw, hooted by the street boys, 
and went to join the Russians encamped on the other side 
of the Vistula. The King of Prussia wrote to Prince Ponia- 
towski, naming him governor of the town and commander 
of a national guard that did not exist. He begged him to 
watch over the safety of the inhabitants, asseverating that 
he knew of no worthier hands within which to place such 
important interests. But the Prussians, not having left a 
single musket behind, the prince was reduced to arm a hun- 




s 



o 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 63 

dred fellows as well as he could, and they, with their pikes 
and loaded sticks, installed themselves in the guard houses. 
This state of affairs lasted but a few days. 

The 2ist of November, in the morning, the arrival of a 
French regiment was announced. How shall I describe the 
enthusiasm with which it was received? To understand 
such emotions properly one must have lost everything and 
believe in the possibility of hoping for everything — like our- 
selves. This handful of warriors, when they set foot on our 
soil, seemed to us a guarantee of the independence we were 
expecting at the hands of the great man whom nothing 
could resist. 

The popular intoxication was at its height; the whole 
town was lit up as if by magic. That day, forsooth, the 
authorities had no need to allot quarters to the new arrivals ; 
people fought for them, carried them off, vied with each 
other in treating them best. Those of the citizens who 
knew no French, not being able to make themselves under- 
stood, borrowed the dumb language which belongs to all 
countries, and, by signs of delight, handshakings, and bursts 
of glee, made their guests comprehend that they freely 
offered them all the house contained, the cellar included. 

Tables were even laid in the streets and squares. Our 
future independence, the brave army, the great Napoleon, 
were toasted many a time. There was embracing and fra- 
ternising and a little too much drinking, for the soldiers 
ended by giving way to excesses which momentarily cooled 
the ardour which had prompted their reception. 

The next day Murat, then Grand Duke of Berg, made 
his entry on horseback. A quantity of plumes were to be 
seen, braided uniforms, gold and silver lace, etc. Lodg- 
ings had been prepared for him at the Hotel Raczynski; 
but, being uncomfortable there on account of a smoking 
chimney, he came to settle in our house. 



64 MEMOIRS OF THE 

I was very anxious to see a Frenchman. Those who had 
come the day before did not count; we only saw them as a 
crowd. The supper hour having struck, my father-in-law, 
Count Potocki, sent a request to His Highness' adjutants 
to come up. To my great disappointment, these gentlemen 
declined; they never supped. 

But scarcely had we sat down at table when a noise of 
sabres and spurs came from the next room, and we saw a 
hussar officer enter, who advanced with an eagerness one 
only exhibits towards good friends. 

"'x\h ! It is Charles !" exclaimed my husband, who had 
known him in Paris, and, after embracing him, presented 
him to us. 

The name was not nevr to me; I had heard J\I. de 

F 1 spoken of as a very seductive man, who had excited 

a deep passion in one of my most distinguished country- 
women. 

Sensible women pay little attention to successful men, or 
at least are on their guard against them. Those who are 
less sensible, and who rely on their principles, on the other 
hand, find a certain pleasure in braving such men. I ac- 
knowledge without further ado that I was one of these. I 
therefore felt greatly displeased at being caught unawares, 
and at not being well dressed. I bowed my head, deter- 
mined not to be seen and not to look; but the sound of a 
voice the like of which I had never heard shook that resolve, 
and I raised my eyes to look at the face of the man who spoke 
so harmoniously. He is, I believe, the onl}- person I have 
chanced to hear before seeing. 

Charles was twenty-one or twenty-two; without being 
reall}'' handsome, he had a charming face, which was veiled 
with a melancholy that seemed to betra}^ a secret sorrow. 
His manners were elegant without fatuit}^, his conversation 
clever, his opinions independent; no one ever more fully 
realised the idea one has of the hero of a romance and of a 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 65 

true knight. And his mother, Madame de Souza, used him 
as a type that she reproduced under different names in her 
dehghtful novels. 

He spent a part of the evening with us. He was be- 
sieged with questions as to this remarkable campaign, fin- 
ished in a few days. 

His answers were in the best taste, without the least 
swagger; he understood the art of conversation like a real 
Frenchman, never exhausting one's interest, passing from 
one subject to another smoothly yet not too slowly. To- 
wards the end of the evening I was drawn into the talk ; I 
thought to perceive that he listened to me with pleasure, and 
I confess I was flattered. 

Two days after his arrival Prince Murat, having sent to 
me to announce his visit, in the evening came up with a 
numerous attendance. His face was without nobility and 
entirely devoid of expression. He had the majestic air of 
actors who are playing kings. It was easily seen that his 
manners were sham, and that he usually had others. He 
did not talk badly, for he watched himself carefully; but 
his Gascon accent and some too soldierlike phrases belied 
the "prince" a little. He was fond of telling of his feats 
of arms, and talked war to us for over an hour. 

The taking of Liibeck was his favourite theme: he had 
entered that place at the head of his cavalry, like one going 
to an assault. It was a fine exploit, was that, but rather 
unpleasant to hear related. Blood ran in the streets, horses 
reared at the heaps of dead bodies. This too faithful pic- 
ture of war was not comforting to us poor women, who 
were to see all those we were most deeply interested in 
rushing to arms. 

Murat had already contracted princely habits ; he did not 
converse, he talked, flattering himself that you listened, if 
not with approbation at least with respectful deference. 

Rising at last and bowing with dignity, he said he would 



66 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

return to his study, to examine the map of Poland and the 
positions of the Russian army. 

A few days later there was a grand ball at the palace. 
Murat, desirous of showing himself off, had told Prince 
Poniatowski that, having heard of the beauty of the Polish 
ladies, he wanted to judge of them for himself. My uncle 
gave a magnificent party. I was indisposed, and could not 
go, but my friends brought me all the news post haste. 
The prince had appeared in full uniform. I afterwards saw 
him in this somewhat theatrical costume, such as was suited 
to a prince of his blood. There was nothing to be admired 
about it all except his plume — that tri-coloured plume which 
was always seen floating where there was menace of dan- 
ger ! And the Poles, fascinated by such valour, would have 
willingly put a crown over that glorious plume ! 

We never knew if Napoleon had held out a hope of this 
kind to his brother-in-law, but it is known that Murat en- 
tertained this hope, and was pleased to compare Sobieski's 
fortunes with his own. It was always one of his favourite 
topics of conversation; he recurred to it incessantly, and 
wanted to be informed of everything relating to the rise of 
that soldier-king. 



CHAPTER II 
NAPOLEON'S ENTRY INTO WARSAW 

THE TRIUMVIRATE THE PREPARATIONS SECRET ARRIVAL 

OF THE EMPEROR THE OFFICIAL RECEPTION. 

As soon as it was known that the emperor had reached 
Posen it was decided to send a deputation to meet him. This 
was no easy matter. All persons of distinction were at 
their country places awaiting the issue of events. More- 
over, the people whose property was under the Emperor of 
Russia's control also held aloof; they profited by the expe- 
rience of the past, and knew that a decree of confiscation 
would be the inevitable result of an imprudent action. 

The difficulty was solved by improvising a rather inferior 
triumvirate, to be sent to anticipate the conqueror. His 
eagle eye quickly detected the standing of this deputation, 
whom he addressed in the most ordinary terms, not in the 
least calculated to sustain the hopes to which his coming 
had given birth. Prince Murat gave the authorities to un- 
derstand that the emperor would appear with a certain 
degree of pomp, if only to send a brilliant article to the 
"Moniteur." Triumphal arches were speedily constructed, 
illuminations were got ready, inscriptions were composed, 
wreaths were plaited. All these preparations were super- 
fluous. Napoleon amused himself with disappointing the 

67 



68 MEMOIRS OF THE 

general expectancy ; he arrived at four in the morning on a 
shabby horse he had got at the last relay station. 

It may readily be imagined what alarm this occurrence 
caused at the palace, where all were wrapt in deepest slum- 
bers. The emperor went to the sentry box himself, to 
wake up the sentinel, who gave the proper signal. The 
commotion was all the worse as the repairs it had been 
necessary to undertake in the palace, uninhabited for many 
years, were not finished. 

Most luckily, the apartments of the last king, left intact, 
seemed but to be awaiting the new guest. This part of the 
palace, built in the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, bears that 
stamp of perfection that escapes the havoc of time and the 
tyranny of fashion. 

The emperor had allowed no one but Rustan, his Mame- 
luke, to accompany him. The carriages had been left stick- 
ing in the mud — there were as yet no highroads, and the 
crossroads were impassable at that season. 

No sooner arrived, than the emperor had it given out that 
he would interview the authorities in the evening, and also 
persons who had the right to be presented to him. 

I still feel some emotion at the recollection of the impa- 
tience with which we waited for those who had just been 
admitted to the palace. My father-in-law was at the head 
of the official delegation. He returned at ten o'clock at 
night, less pleased and more astonished than I could explain. 

Napoleon had spoken with the volubility and prolixity 
which, in him, indicated a sort of nervous excitement. He 
had talked a lot, without, however, saying anything en- 
couraging. I dare even say that, on reflection, he would 
have liked to withdraw sundry remarks that escaped him. 

After expatiating on what he had recently accomplished 
in Prussia, minutely detailing the motives which had urged 
that war upon him, he dwelt on the tremendous obstacles 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 69 

to be overcome in order that so large an army might advance 
and be suppHed with sufficient food. 

"But," he added, in conclusion, "no matter !" And, put- 
ting his hands into his pockets, he added : "I have the 
Frenchmen there ! By appealing to their imagination I can 
do what I like with them!" 

A sort of silent surprise depicted itself on the faces of all 
his hearers. 

After a pause he added: "Yes — yes — it's just as I tell 
you!" 

And, taking a pinch of snuff, to recover his breath, 
he resumed his ardent discourse. He launched out vio- 
lently against the Polish magnates, who, in his opinion, did 
not manifest enough zeal and patriotism. He cried : 

"There must be devotion and sacrifices and blood! 
Otherwise, you will never come to anything !" 

But in all this flow of words, not one passed his lips 
which might have been construed as a promise. Conse- 
quently, the most sensible came back unsatisfied from this 
audience, but resolved to do anything that honour and love 
of country dictated. 

Henceforth military organisation, recruiting, etc., were 
all the talk. 

Everything in reason was given up, and the little retained 
the French took by force. 

Whatever Napoleon may have said about the lack of zeal 
of the magnates, I can assert that never in any country were 
such tremendous sacrifices so cheerfully rendered. 

Hardly a day elapsed which did not bring the news of 
some voluntary offer, some patriotic gift. When the money 
was exhausted we sent our plate to the mint. In the can- 
tonments the officers' expenses were defrayed by the agri- 
cultural proprietors. 

A rich gentleman, who had wished to do the magnificent 



yo COUNTESS POTOCKA 

to one of the most famous marshals, was not a Httle sur- 
prised to hear, the next day, that his silver had disappeared 
with the hero's vans. This was considered too much of a 
good joke, and reported to the emperor, who, indignant at 
such conduct in a friendly country, at once ordered the 
restitution of the plate, and put the abstraction down to the 
account of the people of the marshal's household, who were 
quite unused to being reckoned with in this manner. 



CHAPTER III 
FIRST HOSTILITIES 

PRINCE BORGHESE — THE SICK CHILD — DEVOTION OF M. DE 

F T SAVARY's IDEA PULTUSK RECEPTION AT THE 

PALACE PRESENTATION TO THE EMPEROR. 

I WAS in the habit of receiving a number of French people. 
My husband always took part in these gatherings, and 
helped me to do the honours. 

Sometimes we played cards, oftener we conversed. 
Prince Borghese, the emperor's brother-in-law, was one of 
our frequent visitors, but no one took any notice of him. 
I shall never forget how, in the short periods in which the 
conversation became a little serious, he went for some chairs, 
arranged them two by two in the middle of the room, and 
amused himself by humming tunes and dancing square 
dances with these mute supers. 

My son August in the meanwhile fell ill. The whole 
house was disorganised; I was separated from my child. 
He occupied one of the wings of the house adjoining the 
apartments given up to Prince Murat's adjutants; to see my 
poor child, I had to cross the courtyard. It was the month 
of December; the short walk, become dangerous because 
the pathway was slippery, had been strictly forbidden me 
on account of my condition. Unable to see my son at any 
moment, I imagined him far worse than he was, and, not 

71 



72 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



being disposed to join in the pleasures of the others, I re- 
tired much earlier than usual that day. 

At dawn I sent to the nurse for news. What was my 
surprise when, instead of a verbal answer, a bulletin was 
handed me describing the whole course of the night! I 
knew the number of times the little invalid had taken his 
dose, how long he had slept, what his degree of fever had 
been! My mother's heart, without knowing the writing, 
guessed whose it was. 

That day I felt embarrassed when addressing M. de 
F , and as I ventured a few words of thanks he an- 
swered : 

"This is an instance, to be sure, where the simplest things 
are made a merit of. I was on duty last night. In your 
son's room there was a comfortable lounge where I installed 
myself, and, not wishing to drop off to sleep, I tried to be- 
come interested in what was going on about me. Your 
child is out of all danger," he added, in accents that went 
right to my heart. 

I could not speak — he took my hand, pressed it, without 
daring to put his lips to it, and quickly went away. 

From that instant a sort of intimacy sprung up between 
us. One might have said an old and sacred friendship 
which had all the charm of mysterious and timid new love. 
Faithful to my obligations, I would not even admit the pos- 
sibility of a sentiment which ought to have been destroyed, 
and I was content to deny the danger. 

It seemed permissible to feel friendship for a man who 
combined all the qualities one would have wished for in a 
brother. The troubles I had disappeared when I met that 
gentle and melancholy look, when I heard Charles sing 
those exquisite romances, that no one sang as he did. I 
forgot, in fact, and that was my worst mistake, that a 
young woman ought to have no confidant and no friend but 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 73 

her husband. But then why did mine not remind me of 
this ? 

The winter of 1807 was extremely severe. The country, 
already impoverished by the passage of the Russian army, 
found its resources at an end when it came to supplying the 
v/ants of a hundred thousand French concentrated at a sin- 
gle place! The troops suffered a great deal, and began to 
murmur, for they were short of everything. 

Savary, then the emperor's adjutant, proposed what he 
termed a vigorous step — to starve the town by closing the 
gates, and to seize the victuals which were every day 
brought in for the sustenance of the population. 

Napoleon, tired of the murmurings of his "grumblers," 
acceded to this idea, and the orders were given. We were 
thus almost condemned to die of starvation. The friend 
warned us under the seal of secrecy, of what was about to 
happen. An indiscretion might have ruined him; so the 

evil had to be parried without compromising M. de F . 

We took counsel together, and my husband decided that, 
upon the pretext of a sudden journey, we would have pro- 
visions taken in. Most happily these precautions became 
superfluous. General Berthier and M. de Talleyrand hav- 
ing had the courage to represent to the emperor that he 
ran the risk of provoking a rebellion, it was concluded to 
force the Austrian line of outposts, which secured us, and 
the army too, food in abundance. 

While surprise was beginning to be declared because of 
the apparent tranquillity that reigned at the palace, and 
while the ladies were becoming offended because the em- 
peror evinced so little anxiety to see them. Napoleon was 
making plans of attack, and, without being taken aback by 
the rigours of the season, he departed hastily, so as to pre- 
sent himself before the Russians encamped on the other side 
of the Vistula, in the little town of Pultusk. The fighting 



74 MEMOIRS OF THE 

continued for some days without particular results. The 
winter stopped everything. Continual rains had so ruined 
the roads that the cannon stuck in the mud. Some of the 
soldiers perished in the bogs. Nothing to equal it had ever 
been witnessed before, and he, whose genius had up to 
that time seemed to dominate the elements, saw himself 
obliged to retreat after having harassed and driven back 
the enemy, whom he yet left in condition to offer a long 
resistance. 

Not without reason was the effect on Napoleon of this 
first reverse feared, and it was in trembling that the authori- 
ties went to wait upon him at the palace. 

But, to the great astonishment of all, he showed himself 
quite undisturbed. 

"Well," he said, "your mud has saved the Russians; let 
us wait for the frost." 

He then spoke of the government of the country, insist- 
ing on the need of introducing perfect order and foresight 
into the methods of supplying the wants of the army, men- 
tioning the points where stores ought to be kept, and enter- 
ing upon all the details with admirable lucidity and an 
already complete knowledge of the places, things, and men 
to be utilised. 

Things were different this time from the first. All who 
went to the palace came back penetrated with admiration for 
the reach and depth of this genius, as fit to conquer as to 
govern. 

My father-in-law was so kind as to come to give me an 
account of what had happened at that interview. He had 
barely sat down when we heard a great clamour of men 
and horses. It was Prince Murat coming in with fuss and 
bustle. He, too, was returning from this short campaign, 
followed by his whole staff. 

Fortunately, no one was absent from muster, though it 



"^f'i 







Marshal Berthier. 

From a7i e7tgravmg by Lignon ajter a draTtiing by Vigneron. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 75 

would have been according to the prince's habits to be cara- 
coHng before the bullets at all the outposts. 

A few days after it was announced that at last there was 
to be a reception for the ladies. So it was to be our turn 
to see the great man and form an opinion of him ! A hand- 
some toilet had to be thought of — national vanity was in- 
volved. 

I was very well pleased with mine. I wore a black vel- 
vet gown, stitched h la Mathilde with gold and pearls. An 
open Van Dyck ruff, light tufts of curls, and all my dia- 
monds matched this dignified and severe costume to perfec- 
tion, a contrast, I must confess, to my then fresh, smiling 
face. Fashion had not yet sanctified these fanciful cos- 
tumes ; I believe I was one of the first to wear them, and my 
dresses partook more of the artist than of the fashion 
journal. 

We reached the palace about nine in the evening. We 
had to traverse a whole army in gilt and galloon, drawn 
up in line to see the ladies pass. I went behind my mother- 
in-law, looking right and left to observe the effect my attire 
would produce on judges both competent and exacting. I 
admit that I was delighted when, from the midst of flatter- 
ing whispers, I overheard this exceedingly French remark : 

"Ah! How original! You would say a pretty picture 
stepping out of an old frame. You see nothing of the kind 
in Paris !" 

We were ushered into the great hall, hung with his- 
torical paintings, taken to Moscow since by order of the 
Emperor Nicholas. This hall was as light as day. A num- 
ber of ladies were already ranged side by side, for, as the 
selection had been indiscriminate, the company was very 
large. 

We waited rather long, and, if it must be acknowledged, 
our curiosity was not unmingled with fright. Of a sudden 



76 MEMOIRS OF THE 

the silence was broken by a swift rumour, the wings of the 
door opened noisily, and M. de Talleyrand advanced, with 
a loud and intelligible voice uttering the magic word that 
made the world tremble: The Emperor. Immediately Na- 
poleon made his appearance, and halted for a minute as if 
to be admired. 

So many portraits exist of this astonishing man, his his- 
tory has been so much written about, all the stories told 
by the children of his old soldiers will live so long, that 
the generations to come will know him almost as well as 
ourselves. But what will be difficult to grasp is how deep 
and unexpected the impression was which those felt who 
saw him for the first time. As for me, I experienced a sort 
of stupor, a mute surprise, like that which seizes one at 
the aspect of any prodigy. It seemed to me that he wore 
an aureole. The only thought I could frame when I had 
recovered from this first shock was that such a being could 
not possibly die, that such a mighty organisation, such a 
stupendous genius, could never perish ! I inwardly awarded 
him double immortality. 

It is likely — and I want to make no excuses — that the 
impression he made on me resulted from my youth and 
the vividness of my imagination. However this may be, 
I simply relate what I felt. 

My mother-in-law was near the door by which the em- 
peror had entered; he addressed himself to her first, and 
spoke of her husband in flattering terms. My turn came 
next. I cannot repeat what he said, so upset was I. Prob- 
ably it was one of the stock phrases that all young women 
get. I must, no doubt, have answered quite clumsily, for 
he looked at m.e with some surprise, which put me still fur- 
ther out of countenance, and drove everything out of my 
mind except the gracious and gentle smile with which he 
accompanied the few words he said to me. This smile. 




M. DE Talleyrand. 

From an engraving by Mote after Gerard'' s portrait. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 77 

which he habitually assumed when speaking to a woman, 
entirely counteracted his usual stern gaze. 

He accomplished the round of the room very quickly. 
Several of the ladies attempted to broach the subject of 
the hopes his presence gave rise to, but monosyllables were 
the only answers to these patriotic flights, somewhat out 
of place at a presentation, and he disposed of us in less than 
half an hour. Arrived at the door by which he had entered, 
he said, rather loudly, to M. de Talleyrand : 

"What pretty women!" 

Then, turning round once more, he saluted us gracefully 
with his hand and returned to his apartments. 



CHAPTER IV 
GALLANTRIES 

BALL AT M. DE TALLEYRAND's — THE GLASS OF LEMONADE 

AN IMPERIAL QUADRILLE MADAME WALEWSKA THE 

KEY TO PRINCE MURAt's APARTMENT, 

The emperor declared that, as there was to be no fighting, 
he wanted us to enjoy ourselves. The time was propitious, 
for the carnival had just begun. There was an impedi- 
ment, however. The liberators were occupying all our 
houses; everywhere the proprietors were reduced, just like 
ourselves, to a few small rooms, where some sort of crowd- 
ing in was possible, but where it was out of the question to 
think of entertaining. 

Prince Poniatowski, who alone could have invited a large 
company to the palace, was hampered by the presence of 
the emperor. After much discussion, it was decided to 
give the first ball at M. de Talleyrand's, Grand Chamber- 
lain and Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

The emperor, as well as all the princes, were to be there. 
The assurance was given that there would be no more than 
fifty ladies, but such a severe regulation could not hold 
out against the thousand and one little intrigues in vogue 
on similar occasions. It was certainly one of those parties 
which must not be missed for anything in the world. 

78 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



79 



Everybody's vanity and curiosity were stretched to the ut- 
most. As for me, I was possessed of the Hveliest desire to 
see the host at close quarters, who was reported to be the 
most affable and cleverest man of his time. To say the truth, 
he took little trouble to appear so to us. The intimates 
asserted that no one joined such dexterity to such brilliancy; 
but if I were to judge him according to the impression he 
then made upon me, I should say he was thoroughly satiated 
and bored with everything — greedy for fame and fortune, 
jealous of the favours of a master he detested, without 
either character or principles, and, in a word, as unhealthy 
in mind as in appearance. 

I can scarcely convey the surprise I experienced when I 
saw him advance laboriously to the middle of the drawing- 
room, a napkin folded under his arm, a gilt tray in his hand, 
and offer a glass of lemonade to the monarch whom he in 
private considered an upstart. 

In his youth M. de Talleyrand was said to have counted 
many successes among the ladies, and I have since seen 
him in the midst of his old seraglio. It was really very 
comical : all those dames, to whom he had in turn played 
lover, tyrant, or friend, vainly tried to amuse him. His 
rudeness defeated all their efforts. He yawned at one, was 
curt to another, and made fools of them all, maliciously 
recurring to reminiscences and dates. 

To return to the ball. It was one of the most remark- 
able that it was ever my privilege to attend. The em- 
peror took part in a square dance, which paved the way for 
his affair with Madame Walewska, 

"How do you think I dance?" he asked me, smiling. 
"I suspect you have been laughing at me." 

" In truth, sire," I replied, "for a great man your dancing 
is perfect." 

A little before that Napoleon had seated himself between 



8o MEMOIRS OF THE 

the future favourite and myself. After talking for a few 
minutes he asked me who his other neighbour was. As 
soon as I had mentioned her name, he turned to her as if 
no one knew more about her than he. 

We learnt afterward that M. de Talleyrand had extended 
his labours as far as managing this first interview and 
smoothing the preliminary obstacles. Napoleon, having 
expressed a wish to count a Pole among his conquests, one 
of the right kind was chosen — lovely and dull. Some pre- 
tended to have noticed that, after the quadrille, the emperor 
had shaken hands with her, which was equivalent, they 
said, to an appointment; and it did take place, in fact, the 
next evening. It was rumoured that a great dignitary had 
gone to fetch the fair one ; quick and undeserved promotion 
for a good-for-nothing brother was spoken of, and a dia- 
mond ornament, which was said to have been refused. 
People said a great many things they perhaps did not know 
and invented at pleasure. They even went so far as to 
assert that Rustan, the Mameluke, had acted as lady's maid ! 
What is certain, however, is that we were all distressed that 
a person admitted to society had shown such facility, and 
had defended herself as little as the fortress of Ulm. 

But time, which colours everything, gave this connection, 
so lightly contracted, a tinge of constancy and disinter- 
estedness which partly effaced the irregularity of its origin, 
and ended in placing Madame Walewska among the notable 
personages of her period. Exquisitely pretty, she was a 
realization of Greuze's faces; her eyes, her mouth, and her 
teeth were beautiful. Her laugh was so fresh, her gaze 
so soft, her face so seductive, as a whole, that it was never 
apparent that anything was wanting to the complete regu- 
larity of her features. 

Married at sixteen to an octogenarian who never ap- 
peared in public, in society she had the position of a young 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 8l 

widow. Her extreme youth, combined with such conve- 
nient circumstances, gave room to all sorts of surmises, and 
if Napoleon was her last lover, it was asserted that he had 
not been the first. 

After the emperor had made his choice the princes of 
the family wanted to follow suit. It was difficult, as there 
was more than glory involved in this audacious enterprise. 

One morning M. Janvier, Prince Murat's private secre- 
tary, was announced. He entered, a key in his hand, much 
embarrassed at his undertaking. Not knowing how to 
begin, he remained mute, and turned his key over and over 
without venturing to look at me, whilst I, on my side, 
racked my brain to guess what he wanted. 

In order that this anecdote may be understood, I must 
say a word about the arrangements of the palace. Between 
the story occupied by my mother-in-law and the ground 
floor, where the large apartment was situated which I had 
surrendered to Prince Murat, there were tiny mezzanine 
rooms, of which my mother-in-law never made use except 
in the coldest weather, because they communicated the heat 
thoroughly by way of a secret staircase. 

This charming retreat, furnished and decorated in Louis 
XV. style, was looked upon as a part of the large apart- 
ment. The key of it had been given to Prince Murat's 
servants when he had come to live in our house, and nobody 
had thought of it since. That was the key M. Janvier had 
been ordered to bring to me. 

Being a man of sense, he felt fully the impropriety of his 
mission, and was doubly confused when he perceived that 
I did not understand, and that I persisted in refusing the 
key as a useless object; because, inhabiting the same floor 
as my mother-in-law, her private stairs were all that con- 
cerned me. Seeing me utterly at a loss, he took the liberty 
to say, that His Highness, not caring to propose large par- 



82 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

ties, had thought I might perhaps be pleased to take tea 
occasionahy in these charming nooks. I began to compre- 
hend, and I got angry ! He must have read it in my eyes, 
for I thought he would fall from his chair. He rose, stum- 
bling, and going to a bracket deposited there the miserable 
key, and made a profound bow, preparatory to his exit. 

I could scarce contain myself — indignation inspired me. 
Smiling as disdainfully as I was able, I begged M. Janvier 
to tell the prince that my mother-in-law would certainly 
be sensible to his attention, that at her age large parties 
were found objectionable, and that she might avail herself 
of His Highness' obliging offer; that, in any case, since 
he was leaving the key, I should hand it to my mother-in- 
law. And, bestowing my haughtiest salute on the poor sec- 
retary, who stood petrified by the door, I left the room. 



CHAPTER V 
THE EMPEROR'S GAME OF WHIST 

MORE BALLS THE PARADE THE EMPEROR'S ORCHESTRA 

THE DUTCH DEPUTATION THE STAKE AT CARDS THE 

HEIR PRESUMPTIVE OF BAVARIA THE "COUNT OF COM- 

MINGES" THE PRINCES OF THE BLOOD MURAT's GAS- 
CON ACCENT HIS AFFECTED PHRASES. 

M. DE Talleyrand's ball was followed by two others : one 
given by Prince Borghese, the other by Prince Murat. I 
was indisposed, and did not attend the first; it was my 
mother-in-law's opinion that I ought to be at the second, 
so as to sustain the part I had adopted towards M. Janvier, 
and not in any way change the relationship of frigid polite- 
ness existing between our guest and ourselves. 

The weather continuing to render the roads impassable, 
the emperor did not leave town, and his regular outings 
were limited to the parade which took place in Saxon 
Square. Although this was an almost daily drill, people 
flocked there in crowds whenever Napoleon showed him- 
self. He was accompanied back to the palace with spon- 
taneous shouts and hurrahs, which showed him how his 
fame and our hopes had endeared him to the nation. He 
did not seem in the least put out by these demonstrations, 
although sometimes the enthusiasm resulted in blocking 
his way. 

83 



84 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



Besides the balls, there was a court reception once a week. 
The evening began with a splendid concert and ended with 
a game of whist. There was never any dancing at the 
palace. 

The emperor had a complete orchestra in his train, under 
the direction of the celebrated composer Paer. It was 
always Italian music. Napoleon seemed to be passionately 
devoted to it. He listened attentively, applauded with dis- 
crimination, and the sounds of harmony appeared to seize 
strongly upon his moral faculties. A proof was given us 
at one of the entertainments. 

He had just received information that General Victor, 
the bearer of a despatch of the highest importance, had 
allowed the Prussians to catch him! This piece of news 
put him beside himself. If not a case of treason — so it 
was noised about — it was at least one of unpardonable care- 
lessness. Now, that very day a Dutch deputation, come to 
congratulate the emperor upon his victory at Jena, was to 
be admitted to audience immediately before the reception. 
It was near ten o'clock, we had been waiting a long time, 
and were beginning to suspect something extraordinary 
might be happening, when, the door being noisily thrown, 
open, we saw the fat Dutchmen, in their scarlet clothes, roll 
rather than walk in. The emperor was prodding them, ex- 
claiming in somewhat loud tones : "Go on ! Go on !" 

No doubt a number of people had accumulated at the 
door the moment that Napoleon made his appearance, for 
he walked very quickly, as was his habit. The poor envoys 
lost their heads, and tumbled all over each other. 

At any other time this comical scene would have raised a 
laugh, but the master's voice and the expression of his face 
were not reassuring, and, to say truth, we should have pre- 
ferred not to witness this episode. We were wrong. The 
music soothed the emperor quickly; towards the end of the 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 85 

concert he resumed his gracious smile, addressing pleasant 
words to the ladies he liked best, before sitting down to his 
whist table. The emperor always named the ladies in the 
morning who were to play with him in the evening. His 
choice habitually fell upon one of the oldest and two of the 
youngest. I was taught to play an indifferent game, and 
the first time the coveted distinction was mine I let slip a too 
hasty answer, which was apparently not taken amiss, seeing 
that from that day I was a fixture at the card table. 

At the moment when the cards were drawn, Napoleon, 
turning in my direction, inquired : • 

"What shall the stake be?" 

"Oh, sire," I answered, "some town, some province, some 
kingdom !" 

He laughed. 

"And supposing you should lose?" he asked, with a par- 
ticularly sly look. 

"Your Majesty is in funds, and will perhaps deign to 
pay for me." 

This speech won me favour which was never withdrawn. 
Whether in Poland or in Paris, Napoleon never failed to 
accord me a distinguished welcome, and to treat me with 
endless consideration. 

It was remarked that Madame Walewska never played 
cards, and this regard for propriety was universally com- 
mended. 

A really funny thing it was to see all the little German 
princes, who, under various pretexts remaining at head- 
quarters, danced attendance at the emperor's game of cards. 
Among others there was the heir presumptive to the throne 
of Bavaria, who respectfully kissed Napoleon's hand when- 
ever he managed to get it. But he had the impudence to be 
in love with Madame Walewska! Napoleon's peace was 
not in the least disturbed by this rivalry, which was even 



86 MEMOIRS OF THE 

supposed to amuse him. The prince, much maltreated by- 
nature, was, besides, deaf and a stutterer. 

The foreign ministers apart and some of the high func- 
tionaries settled down at play, no one sat down in the 
emperor's presence, not even his brothers-in-law. This did 
not seem to displease Prince Murat, who did not lose the 
opportunity to pose, and to strike attitudes which he judged 
appropriate to show off the beauty of his figure. But little 
Borghese was enraged, and still had not the courage to sit 
down. 

After cards came supper. Napoleon never took a seat 
at table, but walked about, so as to chat with the ladies, 
diverting himself with asking a thousand questions, which 
sometimes were embarrassing, considering the extremely 
precise answers he exacted. He wanted to know what you 
did, what you read, what you thought about most, what 
you liked best. 

One day, or one evening rather, when, leaning on the 
back of my chair, he amused himself with examining me in 
this way as to my reading, he talked novels, and told me 
that of all which had come into his hands, the "Comte de 
Comminges" had interested him by far the most. He had 
read it twice, and each time had been moved to tears. 

I did not know the book, and it may well be imagined 
that, no sooner had I reached home, I ransacked my father- 
in-law's library. Unfortunately, this novel was not there. 
Only a long time after that conversation did I succeed in 
getting a copy, and I too shed tears ! 

My mother-in-law, being the only lady of Warsaw who 
had kept up a salon, found herself obliged to give drawing- 
room teas and dances. A host of strangers who had come 
with the diplomatic body asked nothing better than to be 
entertained. The princes, of the blood so-called, missed 
none of these parties, without, however, compromising their 
dignity, for they only danced at court balls! 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 87 

Prince Murat, little discountenanced by the failure of his 
absurd enterprise, seized this opportunity to talk to me, and 
overwhelmed me with insipid compliments. I scarcely made 
an effort to prevent his seeing how he wearied me. He 
finally, though somewhat late, did perceive it. Then, as- 
suming a melodramatic air, he said this very ridiculous 
phrase — rendered more so by his Gascon accent — which 
has made my friends laugh so much : 

"Madame Alexandre! you are not ambitious; you do not 
care for princes!" 

At Paris I heard a companion anecdote. The day that 
Murat was proclaimed King of Naples, a fair one, touched 
by his greatness, accorded him a private interview. As the 
cares of his empire were not yet taking up much of his 
time, he arrived too early, and, impatient of waiting, he 
carried his hand to his forehead, exclaiming: 

"Was an unhappier monarch ever known?" 

When I reflect how petty and absurd all those princes of 
Napoleon's family seemed to us by the side of the colossus 
who overshadowed them, I repeat the maxim proved true 
by the ages, that in the eyes of mankind only a great char- 
acter or great deeds can justify sudden elevation. 



CHAPTER VI 
EYLAU 

THE PINK RELIC MARET, DUKE DE BASSANO THE DUKE 

DE DALBERG BIRTH OF NATHALIA POTOCKA MADAME 

WALEWSKA AT OSTERADE JOSEPHINe's SHAWL NA- 

POLEON's opinion of "CORINNE" BATTLE OF EYLAU 

THE RETURN OF THE FRENCH FEAT OF ARMS BY PRINCE 

BORGHESE. 

War was no longer the topic. Many people even believed 
the emperor was waiting for the spring to resume hostili- 
ties. But, as rapid in his resolves as in his actions, he sud- 
denly left on the 5th of February, and the army got orders_ 
to move. 

A farewell is a dangerous rock! It is then hard not to 
betray a sentiment one is continually repressing. Fortu- 
nately I was not alone ! 

Charles wrote to me on the pretext of commending to 
my care a pocketbook which he did not like to expose to the 
chances of war. It contained the letters of a mother he 
dearly loved, and who wrote with a particular grace. He 
begged me, in conclusion, not to refuse him, as a token of 
sacred friendship, a relic (supposed to have the virtue of 
warding off bullets), a pink ribbon which I had worn the 
day before. This idea silenced my scruples : I surrendered 

88 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 89 

the pink ribbon! People who are going to war have the 
right to ask so much ! He made me promise to write some- 
times. He requested permission to keep me informed of 
the progress of an army that was to fight for our cause. 

I submitted this request to my husband; as he found 
nothing to object, I promised, and he went. 

I have not yet spoken of Maret, the Duke de Bassano, 
minister and secretary of state; he was one of those who 
rarely left the emperor. This time, however, he was to 
await events. 

Arrived at great station, he was perhaps the only man of 
this period of speedy fortunes who had kept nothing of the 
rank he had started from, yet without any way abusing that 
which he had obtained. His manners, his dress, his conver- 
sation, all, excepting his enormous calves, belonged to a 
person of good society. If his mind was less versatile and 
subtle than M. de Talleyrand's, his perfect tact, joined to 
rare good judgment, came to his aid, and rendered him 
fit to cope with the ablest. An upright and honest man 
moreover, he had earned the right to hold his head up. 

His affairs were related to my father-in-law's, so that we 
saw him often. After working a long time, he would 
come into the room to chat with us for a moment ; he called 
these short intervals his recreation. His politeness was of 
the kind that comes from the heart; he never missed an 
opportunity of being obliging. He was accused of being 
amenable to flattery, and of having bestowed his confidence 
on persons little worthy of it. It is possible — true kindness 
has this drawback, that it is easy to abuse it. 

I must not forget. In speaking of our friends, the clev- 
erest of them all, the Duke de Dalberg. 

He was the last scion of that ancient family to which his- 
tory has allotted so conspicuous a place. At the moment 
of a German emperor's anointing a herald was charged 



90 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



with exclaiming : 1st ciii Dalberg daf I£ the answer was in 
the negative, the ceremony was invahd. 

Upon his return to France the duke married a Made- 
moiselle de Brignole, by whom he had but one daughter, 
who died quite young. During his sojourn in Poland he 
entertained a deep passion for one who could neither appre- 
ciate nor understand him, nature having denied the duke 
the gifts that are seductive to a stupid person. In this 
matter he showed himself as extravagant as a German and 
as delicate as a Frenchman. I listened to his confidences 
patiently, for he put all the charm of his mind into them. 
He was a singular personage, half seer, half eighteenth- 
century philosopher; he had connections with all the most 
enlightened and the most compromised people in Europe. 
Violently imprudent, he said anything that came into his 
head, sparing no one, not even Napoleon, whom he called a 
tyrant and an usurper. His real mission was to watch the 
interests of Germany, which he somewhat neglected when 
love claimed all his faculties. 

Admitted to the intimacy of M. de Talleyrand, he would 
often groan with him over the current events ! And still 
he pronounced sincere hopes for the restoration of Poland, 
while also ardentl}'' wishing for the emancipation of Ger-~ 
many — two things as hard to reconcile as the rest of his 
sentiments. 

And what proved that Napoleon was not so bad as the 
duke made him out was that Dalberg was never interfered 
with; one could scarcely admit, though, that his way of 
thinking was unknown to the emperor. 

On the eighteenth of March, 1807, my sweet little daugh- 
ter was born. She sealed all our hopes. The child, six 
years old at this time of writing, was lovely from the day of 
her birth. Her little features had all the regularity of an 




7^ J. (/•""■' '^^iTh^-^- 



Carl Theodor, Duke de Dalberg. 

From a German, engraving. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



91 



antique bust; certainly Helen of Troy was no more beau- 
tiful when she was born. She continues to develop those 
classic lines of feature which I attribute to my devotion to 
the arts. I was always in the midst of the finest models; 
I dwelt rapturously upon the splendid paintings at my 
father-in-law's, and it is not surprising if my child was the 
reflex, as it were, of my constant occupation. My mother 
became her godmother, and I called her Nathalia ; the name 
pleased me, and was well adapted to her little Greek face. 
I do not know how I came to have forgotten the mention 
of my son's baptism, which was celebrated with all the 
magnificence reserved for boys, and especially for the old- 
est son. Prince Joseph Poniatowski and Ma.rshal Potocki, 
my father-in-law's brother, were his godfathers; the beau- 
tiful Countess Zamoyska and Countess Tyszkiewicz, Prince 
Poniatowski's sister, his godmothers. Prince Joseph made 
my son a magnificent present, which we preserve rever- 
ently, and which, I hope, will never leave the family. It 
is the sword of vSigismund I., and was used at the anoint- 
ing of our kings. There being no lustre attached to the lot 
of women, their destiny seems different from the cradle. 
Nathalia was baptised in my room, without pomp or cere- 
mony. If, some day, she should resent this, let her think 
of the joy her birth gave me, and the admiration her beauty 
already called forth. 

The emperor, having established his headquarters at Os- 
terode, sent for the Duke de Bassano, and, a few days after, 
for M. de Talleyrand. The diplomatic body, including a 
Turkish and a Persian ambassador, was left us. People 
went to see these Orientals eat, smoke, and say their prayers ; 
it was a sort of performance, and there was a long file at 
their doors. 

News from headquarters was quite frequent, as might 



92 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



be imagined. The enemy retired, so as to concentrate his 
forces the better. The emperor, sure of victory, was not 
disturbed by this, and seemed to be waiting to be attacked. 
The weather being still very severe, Napoleon, having a 
good deal of time on his hands, sent for Madame Walewska. 
The fair one's brother, who had suddenly advanced from 
lieutenant to colonel, hastened to bring her, with a show 
of mystery, to headquarters. Some secrets cannot possibly 
be kept when so many idle witnesses strive to satisfy their 
curiosity so as to be able to tell everything. Thus it soon 
became known that a carriage, with the blinds carefully 
lowered, had made its appearance at night. The rest could 
be guessed. The only thing that remained concealed was 
the place where the traveller had been deposited. 

While Madame Walewska was at Osterode, the Persian 
ambassador sent the presents to be accepted from his mas- 
ter. Among other splendours were a number of shawls in- 
tended for the Empress Josephine. Her unfaithful spouse 
wanted to abstract some; he even insisted repeatedly that 
his mistress should choose the finest. But in vain. She 
persisted in refusing, and as he was offended at the stub- 
bornness of her refusal, she finally took a blue shawl — the 
simplest and least valuable of them all — saying she had a 
friend who liked blue, and that on her return she would 
offer her the shawl. 

Napoleon liked this disinterestedness. 

"Your men are brave and devoted," said he, with a gra- 
cious smile, "and the women pretty and disinterested. That 
makes a fine nation. I promise you to set Poland up again, 
sooner or later." 

And as she fell on her knees and thanked him effusively, 
he exclaimed : 

"Ah ! ah ! that present — you would accept it without fur- 
ther ado! But wait; a political move is not like winning 
a battle; it is not so easy, and takes more time." 



^tSalsTie ywa/wteo-^z. 





(prince JOSEPH P0>IAT0WSKI.) 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 93 

As soon as hostilities began Napoleon sent Madame Wa- 
lewska away. She went as she had come. Her brother 
took her back to the country, and mystery again presided 
over her journey. It seems that the emperor was convinced 
that no one was aware of what had been happening. 

The novel ''Corinne" had just appeared; as it created a 
sensation, it was sent to headquarters from Paris. It ar- 
rived in the night with a heap of despatches, which were 
at once remitted to the emperor. 

After running through the most important of these mis- 
sives Napoleon looked at the novel, and had M. de Talley- 
rand awakened, so that he might read it to him. 

"You like this woman," said he; "let us see if she has 
common sense." 

After listening for half an hour he became impatient. 

"That is not sentiment; it is a hash of phrases — a head 
front-side back. Don't you see she thinks she loves this 
Englishman because he shows himself cold and indifferent? 
Go to bed — it's time wasted. Whenever an author per- 
sonifies herself in a book it is a failure. Good-night." 

The next day he gave "Corinne" to the Duke of Bassano, 
who sent it to me, thinking we had not yet received the 
book at Warsaw. 

I have religiously kept this historical copy. 

A few days after my confinement a messenger brought 
the news of the battle of Eylau, and a Te Deum was sung, 
although thirty thousand men were lost. At Saint Peters- 
burg there was also rejoicing, and thanks were offered up 
to Providence for having allowed the field of battle to be 
long and cruelly fought over. They called that a victory! 

I soon received a letter that reassured me as to the fate 
of those in whom I was interested. It contained more ques- 
tions about my health than details of the battle. He only 
said that the engagement had been bloody, that the enemy 
had offered strong resistance, and that it meant especial 



94 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



good luck to have escaped the quantity of balls and bullets 
fired off during the many hours the battle had lasted. This 
especial good luck he put to the account of the pink ribbon, 
to which he attributed the virtue of a preservative against 
all danger. He even advised me to make my daughter 
wear this colour, in preference to any other, as it was proved 
that it brought good fortune; but Nathalia's colour was 
and remained blue. 

During the short truce which followed the battle of Eylau 
a number of officers arrived from headquarters. Under 
various pretexts these gentlemen came to rest a little and 
see the objects of their affection, for nearly all had made 
their choice; and I am unfortunately constrained to say 
that few of them met with cruelty. Nevertheless those 
ladies who showed some inspired the most durable and chiv- 
alrous sentiments ; there were even marriages, only few ; the 
Frenchmen of that day scarcely had time to set up house- 
holds. 

Among our returning friends was Prince Borghese, all 
triumphant from his military achievements. As he was 
only a colonel, and the emperor wanted to promote him with 
some show of justice, his regiment was sent into a little 
skirmish where more glory was to be won than real danger 
to be incurred. The colonel was very proud of having 
drawn his sword for the first time, and said very seriously 
to M. de Vaugiron, whom he met at my house : 

"Why don't you tell the countess how I drew the scia- 
bolar 

This grand feat of arms was reported in the despatches, 
and described in a pompous manner, and very soon after the 
campaign His Imperial Highness, in compensation of his 
services and valour, was awarded the government of Turin^ 
where he recovered, for the rest of his earthly term, from 
the fatigues of war, without any other cares than the fre- 
quent and just uneasiness the princess, his wife, caused him. 





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M 

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1 O 3 
fe :§ > 



< 



CHAPTER VII 
TILSIT 

PRESENTATION OF THE COLOURS TO THE THREE POLISH 
LEGIONS PRINCE PONIATOWSKI VICTORY OF ' FRIED- 
LAND COUNT STANISLAUS POTOCKI AT THE INTERVIEW 

OF TILSIT THE TEARS OF THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA THE 

ROYAL BANQUET THE DUCHY OF WARSAW. 

So much ardour and zeal had been spent upon the organi- 
sation of the army that it was ready to move soon after 
Napoleon's entry into Warsaw. The third of May, 1807, 
the three legions, thus created by a stroke of the magician's 
wand and popular enthusiasm, were given their eagles and 
their standards. I have since witnessed many ceremonies, 
have been present at the most gorgeous festivities. I have 
participated in the joy of triumphs, and gazed with rap- 
ture on more than one apotheosis. But nothing has ever 
left so deep an impression upon me as this high function. 

About a plain altar, erected in the middle of the square, 
this young and splendid company was crowding, reverently 
taking part in the mass celebrated by the archbishop. Noth- 
ing is so grand and imposing as a patriotic manifesta- 
tion mingled with religion and the love of glory. 

At the moment of the benediction, the standards were 
brought to the great dignitaries, who, according to an an- 
cient custom, were to drive a nail into them. Prince Ponia- 

95 



^6 MEMOIRS OF THE 

towski, as General-in-Chief, presided at this ceremony. 
Never did a nobler figure more grandly express lustre of 
birth, bravery, and big-heartedness. Nor can words de- 
scribe the effect he produced when, entrusting these fine 
troops with their new colours, he made them an oration, 
appealing to the sentiments of honour he himself repre- 
sented. 

The prince did not wish the ladies to refrain from a cere- 
mony which was laying up for them such cruel anxieties 
and bitter sorrows. The whole youth of the country had 
flown to arms, and not a mother, not a wife or sister but 
who trembled for one of her own. In turn we had the hon- 
our of driving a nail into these standards we had stitched. 

The war continuing, we awaited immediate marching 
orders for the Polish army. Many hearts beat at this ex- 
pectation ! Some with hope and the others with fear ; while 
the children could not contain their joy, the mothers went 
into despair. 

The seventeenth of June a messenger, despatched in the 
usual way from the battlefield, brought the news of the 
victory of Friedland, which resulted in peace. The em- 
peror had gone to Tilsit to negotiate and to fix the condi- 
tions upon which he would consent to sign the treaty. 

I shall say little of the celebrated interview. But from 
my father-in-law, Count Stanislaus Potocki, I have some 
curious and scarcely known details. The count had been 
called to Tilsit, under Napoleon's eyes to draw up the suit- 
able or indispensable amendments to the constitution of the 
third of May, which he wanted to give us back with slightly 
imperial touches. Manj^ people believed that the publicity 
Napoleon affected to draw upon this performance consti- 
tuted a sort of scarecrow, intended to strike the imagination 
of the Emperor Alexander, to whom Napoleon always pointed 
out Poland as a menacing spectre which, sooner or later, 
must shake off its shroud and claim its rights. 





Napoleon and Alexander of Russia Meeting 

ON THE NiEMEN AT TiLSIT. 
From engravings by Couchejils. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 97 

The meeting at Tilsit was certainly one of the most bril- 
liant moments of the imperial reign. The King and Queen 
of Prussia came thither as suppliants. To Alexander they 
owed the preservation of their kingdom, about to be effaced 
from the list of the nations, which we were hoping for 
with all our souls. 

The lovely queen seemed to attempt falling on her knees ; 
Napoleon politely offered his hand, and conducted her to 
her apartments. 

The two monarchs who escorted her remained silent. 
The queen, after whispering an appeal to the victor's mag- 
nanimity, had recourse to tears. Napoleon appeared moved 
by these demonstrations of humility and grief; he could 
not, however, restrain himself from avowing to the august 
lady that he had felt the effects of her impotent hate, and, 
enveloping the reproach in terms of highest courtesy, said 
that at her sight he no longer wondered at the number of 
enemies she had enlisted against him and at the tenacity 
of Germany's resistance. Alexander, perceiving the neces- 
sity of changing the current of a conversation that was be- 
coming dangerous, observed, with that subtlety which was 
one of the remarkable traits of his character, that all efforts 
had remained fruitless because of the genius of him against 
whom they had been directed, and modestly confessed that 
to try to oppose him one must not know him. 

Thus ended the first interview, which was followed by 
a royal banquet. For this occasion the queen doffed her 
mourning and resumed the crown and purple, which she 
wore with a rare dignity. The emperor led the queen to 
table, and seated her at his right hand. Adding to her 
cleverness the faculty of mingling in the most important 
concerns, she contrived to find favour before the man who 
held the fate of Prussia in his hand. 

At the farewell hour Napoleon, won over by the insinuat- 
ing ways of Alexander — whom he called the handsomest 



98 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

and subtlest of Greeks — and also by the repentant beauty 
of the Queen of Prussia, made her a gift of Silesia, with 
one stroke of his pen cancelling the article of the treaty 
by which this province was already taken from Prussia, a 
piece of liberality on the conqueror's part which M. de 
Talleyrand was far from approving. 

As for the King of Prussia, his nullity made him dumb. 
He had made war to satisfy the queen's ambitious desires; 
he made peace, happy to take up his gentle habits again with- 
out much calculation of what he might have lost or of what 
he might have won. 

From all these negotiations there resulted for us but the 
creation of the modest Duchy of Warsaw. It was less than 
our aspirations and endeavours presaged. But we thought 
of the future in order to endure the present. 



a- V 



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o I 



CHAPTER VIII 
MARSHAL DAVOUT 

MARSHAL DAVOUT, GOVERNOR OF WARSAW — HIS WIFE — 

^ GENERAL RICARD PRINCE MURAT AND HIS LIVERY 

DEPARTURE OF M, DE F T HIS LETTER DEATH OF 

MADAME DE CRACOVIE, 1808. 

The emperor returned to France, to enjoy the intoxica- 
tion which this short and brilliant Prussian campaign had 
caused. We were not yet tired of victory. Marshal Da- 
vout was left us, who took command of the town and exer- 
cised such political influence as his rather limited means 
permitted. Taken on the whole, he was one of the best 
men in the army. It may be presumed that Napoleon, 
knowing his marshals to the core, appointed this one because 
he was sure of his devotion, as well as of his morality. He 
did not wish to surrender to pillage a country which he 
might afterwards use as a strong barrier against his enemies. 
He had become but too well acquainted, during this short 
space of time, with the enormous resources he would find 
in a nation always disposed to the most strenuous efforts 
(and to the greatest sacrifices, so long as the recovery of 
independence was in view) not to reserve this powerful 
lever, in case of need. 

UrfC. "" 



100 MEMOIRS OF THE 

So the marshal had orders to treat us considerately, to 
flatter and amuse us. He sent for his wife, so as to keep 
house on a grand scale, and as a subsidy received the Grand 
Duchy of Lowicz. 

The lady marshal, a woman of severe beauty, was a 
worthy person. Brought up at Madame de Campan's, she 
had acquired distinguished manners there, and also the tone 
of good society, in which her husband was deficient; but 
she did not make herself beloved, as she was none too agree- 
able. She was said to be possessed with the perpetual jeal- 
ousy that the marshal's fugitive loves aroused in her; he, 
like all the Frenchmen, raved over the Polish women, and 
seemed ill convenienced by the presence of his wife, and 
he had, besides, a Frenchwoman who was supposed to be 
his wife's image, and who, thanks to these legitimate exter- 
nals, had followed the army, to the emperor's profound dis- 
pleasure. 

All these circumstances combined had the effect of mak- 
ing the duchess indifferent to rendering her house a pleasant 
resort, and of her husband going to seek distraction else- 
where. 

The marshal's staff did not abound with prominent indi- 
viduals. M. Anatole de Montesquiou, then very young, 
was the only one we were glad to see; his education corre- 
sponded to his name. 

Among the generals with this army only one was really 
a man of note, and I am still surprised that he was not 
spoken of more, his superiority being incontestable. Once 
a friend and companion to Napoleon, General Ricard had 
fallen into disgrace because he vowed fidelity to Moreau, 
under whom he had served and for whom he professed a 
lively admiration. He took no pains to conceal his feelings 
at a time when Moreau was deserted by every one. This 
noble and courageous integrity by no means prevented his 




General Ricard. 

From an engravhig by Forestie7\ 



COUNTESS POTOCKA loi 

paying loud tribute to the genius and high talents of Napo- 
leon, whom he perhaps respected less as an emperor than 
he had respected him as a commander-in-chief when Bona- 
parte, after subduing Italy, astonished the world by his 
precocious ability. 

General Ricard eclipsed his comrades, yet there were 
pleasant people among them. The French of those days 
were passionately fond of amusement, and did everything 
with spirit. There were plays, there was dancing; sleigh- 
ing parties were organised. We might well take advan- 
tage of this moment's respite; under Napoleon peace was 
never but a short truce to be employed in resting and re- 
cuperating, so as to be all the fresher at the first call. Not 
all were equally well bestowed; many passed their winter 
sadly in their cantonments at the end of Silesia. M. de 

F was one of these. Prince Murat having proposed to 

make his adjutants wear the colours of his livery in the 

shape of a fantastic uniform, M. de F incurred his 

wrath by joining those who refused to wear the livery; he 
preferred to be sent back to his regiment while the prince re- 
turned to Paris, his brow bedecked with laurels and all ready 
to receive the crown. 

The rebel wrote me and related his mishap. He de- 
clared that he did not at all wish to return to Paris, and 
that he would apply to Marshal Davout for leave to spend 
some time at Warsaw. In case the marshal should refuse, 

M. de F had decided to take the journey secretly, if, 

however, he said, the only authority to which he submitted 
without appeal would vouchsafe not to forbid, and if he 
was sure not to displease those whom he wished to see. 

This letter disquieted me. I had made honest endeavours 
to chase away from my memory so dangerous an image; 
I saw it arise anew and threatening. My friend Madame 
Sobolewska happily interposed. I showed her the letter. 



I02 MEMOIRS OF THE 

pretending not to take to myself the sub-meanings it con- 
ve3^ed. I ascribed M. de F 's journey to the very natu- 
ral desire for a little distraction and amusement. I most 
vigorously espoused the defence of one whom nobody was 
attacking. 

My friend let me talk, and took care not to contradict 
me; but when she saw I was calmer she looked at me fix- 
edly, and, calling upon my candour, merely asked me if I 
really had the least doubt as to the object of this journey. 
She added that did I give my consent, I acquiesced in defeat 
beforehand. 

I answered the insinuating letter with pleasantries, and 
succeeded so well that I removed any notion of increased 

intimacy. A few months later M. de F was recalled 

to Paris through the offices of a person in very high sta- 
tion, who had long been enamoured of him without his 
knowledge. 

A courier sent by my mother from Bialystok quickly 
turned my thoughts into a different channel. The an- 
nouncement was that Madame de Cracovie, being very sick, 
had expressed her wish to see us, to give us her blessing 
once more. We left at once. I find among my papers the 
fragment of a journal I wrote in 1808, at a period when I 
had not yet thought of narrating my memories. I copy 
faithfully from the journal. 

Bialystok, February p, 1808. — Here I am in this castle, 
where I spent so many happy and tranquil 3^ears. At every 
step I pick up a reminiscence and experience a regret. The 
sensation is at once sweet and painful — all has passed away, 
all must pass away ! 

I see that dearest aunt again; they are trembling for her 
life. I have encountered death for the first time. That 
room, so sad and dark, those sobs suppressed, and that 




^<m^^mm^m^wp'^^^>^^^»i^s^iit^^mm^^;^^^'-»'^:mf^'mmimi^^'^c 






The King and Queen of Prussia. 

From a rare print. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 103 

mute despair have made a mark upon my mind that nothing 
can wash away. 

Poor Uttle AmeHa de Bassompierre is weeping hot tears, 
and she is right — she loved her so much! The rest of the 
family is only behaving zvith propriety. 

The loth, Morning. — I have not been able to shut an eye 
— and to-morrow I shall perhaps bewail this night that has 
seemed so long! She is still alive, at least! 

This morning they prepared her to receive me. The 
news of our arrival had apparently revived her. Towards 
noon the doctor came for us. Heavens! how could I go 
to her so courageously, smile in talking to her, and not 
break into tears when she gave me her hand to kiss. / have 
not the strength to tell you how zvell I love you, she said 
to me in a voice that was rather broken than faint. Then 
she spoke of my poor little children, whom I have not 
thought of these two days. My husband not drawing near, 
she did not notice him on account of the darkness which 
reigned in this great chamber stretched with red gold-laced 
damask. She told me to bring him, and, though she seemed 
tired, after collecting herself for a moment, pressed his 
hand, saying in fairly firm tones: 

*T commend to you all that is dear to me in this world — 
your wife and her mother. Always watch over their hap- 
piness." 

She signed to us to go, but directly called me back, 
and said, with that look of ineffable, saintly goodness pe- 
culiar to her in her sickness : 

"Send your mother away ; take her away, I beseech you ! 
What a sight for her!" 

And when I sought to quiet her by explaining that we 
would not depart before she was completely restored, she 
shook her head — a beatific smile flitted across her face, and, 
giving me her hand, she added : 



I04 MEMOIRS OF THE 

"lYou cannot conceive what good you are doing me; you 
give me back my peace, and since you have decided, stay 
a few days more — it will not be long. Now I shall die 
easy — I was so distressed about your poor mother !" 

Seeing her perfectly calm, I tried to talk to her of various 
things I thought likely to interest her. She listened to me 
attentively. 

I am in her room all day, or in the adjoining closet, I 
weep no more, and I even am accustoming myself to this 
mournful spectacle; there is a sort of sweetness attaching 
to the care you bestow on one beloved, and which silences 
every other feeling. I shall be with her until the end. 
This pure soul will give mine the certainty which I so sorely 
need. 

She has said her prayers and received the sacrament. I 
could not bear the formalities of the ceremony. But she — 
how calmly she prepared for it! You would have said a 
feast that she was impatiently awaiting. She does not re- 
gret her life at all, and yet at times it looks as though she 
feared death physically, and recoiled before the idea of de- 
struction. So it is very hard to die ! 

The 1 2th, Evening. — Should it be possible to become used 
to everything? I feel neither so sorrowful nor so down- 
cast as before; perhaps hope has glided into my heart. It 
is impossible to imagine the thought of losing those who 
are dear to us, and it is enough to know the danger dimin- 
ishing a little to believe it over. 

She has had a passable night, and has taken a little nour- 
ishment. Nevertheless, the doctor disheartens me ; he finds 
her very bad still. But they say that doctors are often 
mistaken. She is interested in everything that is said. 
Heavens ! how happy it makes me to see her smile ! This 
is perhaps a time of which I shall cherish the dearest memo- 
ries. I feel beloved and useful. That is a consolation for 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 105 

living. I said consolation! Not that I am tired of exist- 
ence, but that I do not understand how one can set any value 
upon it otherwise than by feeling one's self necessary to 
the happiness of others. 

The 13th, Noon. — She is very ill ! The night was fear- 
ful ; she is weakening visibly, and now only speaks when it 
cannot possibly be avoided; but she is quite conscious, and 
recognises everybody. 

The post has not come : I have no news of my children. 
At any other time I should be alarmed and disconsolate, 
for my mother-in-law had promised to send word by every 
post. To-day I must not think of all that endears life to 
me, in that room where everything breathes death, dissolu- 
tion, eternity. 

When I am in her chamber and hear the old clock strike, 
I involuntarily shudder at the thought of its soon ringing 
the fatal hour. 

Midnight. — There is no more hope. She has been in 
horrible agony for two or three hours. She could find no 
place to lay her head. From time to time she asked if the 
night was bright, and if many stars were out. When I ap- 
proached to kiss her hand I found it quite cold. I took it 
very gently to put it to my forehead. I believe she under- 
stood, and blessed me; then she told me not to go away 
and not to speak to her. I think she was praying. 

It is cruel to see her suffer so — is that the death of the 
righteous? Now she is asleep, and the doctor asserts she 
will live till to-morrow. O God, what a terrible night! 

The 14th. — All is over ! She expired about two o'clock. 
Her end was as gentle as her life, and her face kept that ex- 
pression of kindness which made her so dear to us. A few 
minutes before her death she spoke again. The fire was 
crackling ; she requested that no more wood be put on, wish- 
ing for absolute silence and peace. 



Io6 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

Perceiving that one of her maids was weeping, she gave 
her her handkerchief, motioning to her not to speak. Very 
often she asked whether the night was fine — the poor saint 
was thinking of her journey. She seemed in haste to quit 
the earth, and at every moment asked the hour. About 
two o'clock she fell peacefully asleep, and never woke 



agam 



The doctor having declared to my mother that the pa- 
tient was not near her end, we retired to take a little rest. 
At four o'clock I was awakened by the sound of bells; I 
trembled, but did not dare to ask questions. I ran to my 
mother — our tears told us what we were afraid to ask one 
another. 

The i/th. — We leave to-morrow. So I shall never see 
this room again where I am writing, and in which I lived 
during the happiest years of my life. I, also, perhaps have 
lived half of my life. It will come to me, that redoubtable 
moment! But she will help me, she will watch over me! 
May my life be worthy of such protection ! 

The 20th, Warsazv. — Here I am again. Sometimes it 
seems as though I had been through a hideous dream. The 
dream has broken my heart ; it has robbed life of its charm. 
I shun the world ; my children only are bearable to me. 

Note. — After a few years M. de Cracovie's heirs, who 
owned Bialystok, sold that magnificent property to the Em- 
peror Alexander, who had the castle kept in good order, and 
counted this splendid habitation among the imperial resi- 
dences. 

The Emperor Nicholas, careless of historical memories, 
transformed the castle into a boarding school, and had the 
superb orange trees taken to Saint Petersburg. A large 
portion of the oldest trees perished in the long transit. 



Part the Third 
JOURNEY TO FRANCE IN 1810 



CHAPTER I 

PRELIMINARIES OF MARIE-LOUISE'S 
MARRIAGE 

DEATH OF THE WRITER's FATHER, COUNT TYSZKIEWICZ 

DEPARTURE FOR VIENNA — VIENNESE SOCIETY — THE 

PRINCE DE EIGNE HIS MARRIAGE COUNT CHARLES DE 

DAMAS COUNTESS PALFFY NEWS FROM PARIS RE- 
CRIMINATIONS OF THE VIENNESE ARISTOCRACY ARRIVAL 

OF BERTHIER — LETTER FROM NAPOLEON TO THE ARCH- 
DUKE CHARLES. 

THOSE who write their memoirs usually treat their 
readers with insufficient frankness. They nearly all 
prune their reminiscences, and set them down according 
to their sweet will. Right or wrong, I have left mine all 
their imperfections, and I have refrained from deadening 
the colour of their day. In a word, I have not made them 
over. The distinct shades that the years lend our impres- 
sions will be found in them. Everything, to the difference 
in the writing, bears witness to the veracity of these pages. 

It is here that the first blank will be detected. 

Engrossed by the sorrow that the news of my father's 
sudden illness caused me, I left all other interests out of 
sight, and at once determined to request a passport to Wilna. 
The odious delays of the Russian government deprived me 

109 



no MEMOIRS OF THE 

of the consolation of finding my father alive, and of at least 
receiving his last blessing. I arrived too late. 

I returned to Warsaw, but my mother was there no 
longer. Since Madame de Cracovie's death she had settled 
in Vienna. Not wishing to be presented at court, she had 
afterwards taken up her residence at Baden, proposing to 
live there unknown. Her only society was a Swiss family, 
to whom she had become attached. 

In the very middle of a rather stiff winter my good 
mother invited us to visit her at Baden. After a month, 
imagining that we were making too great a sacrifice in re- 
nouncing the pleasures of the capital, she persuaded us to 
go to Vienna to pass the rest of the winter. She promised 
soon to join us there. My husband too was beginning to 
tire of the monotony of our life, and I gladly acceded to 
my mother's suggestion. 

The de Ligne house was then the centre where all promi- 
nent strangers gathered, and to which an introduction was 
the object of eager solicitation. Taken in with especial 
kindness and thoughtfulness, I found it a more amusing 
resort than any other. That modest little saloon, whither 
straw-bottomed chairs were fetched from the hall when 
there were too few; that frugal supper, where the con- 
versation was the dominating charm; that delightful good 
nature — all that is well worth dwelling on with affection, 
and it would be ungrateful to pass over it. 

The famous Prince de Ligne was, at more than seventy, 
still one of the wittiest and brilliant talkers of his circle — 
far more remarkable by his conversation than by his works. 
Indulgent, easy-going, and kind, he was adored by his chil- 
dren, and loved them because they were lovable, ascrib- 
ing no importance to anything but the amenities of exist- 
ence, for he believed in good faith that he had been put into 
the world for the sole purpose of enjoying himself. If he 




Prince de Li(;ne. 

Fro>n an engraving by Cazenave. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA m 

had been seen in the pursuit of fame in his youth, it was 
because fame promised him fresh amatory triumphs, and 
because one is sometimes the more acceptable for being able 
to write a love letter on a laurel leaf. The owner of a 
considerable fortune, which, like his life, he had squan- 
dered in all possible ways, he endured the penury to which 
his prodigalities had condemned him with stoical good 
humour. His humble straw-bottomed chairs, his leg of 
mutton, his immortal piece of cheese, gave room to a thou- 
sand witty and welcome jokes. You would have said he 
had gained in mirth what he had lost in fortune, and that, 
like the sage of old who threw his treasure into the sea to 
achieve happiness, he had wanted to be poor. 

The princess had none of the requisites for being so philo- 
sophical ; husband and wife seemed to speak different lan- 
guages, and never to have told each other anything. 

The princess was issued from one of the highest families 
of Germany ; but she was poor, as all the titled girls of that 
country are, and as fully devoid of charm and brain. It 
was impossible to understand what had moved the prince 
to this match, inasmuch as he did not approve of German 
alliances. His old friends repeated a jest he let out when 
for the first time he took his young wife to Brussels, where 
his regiment was garrisoned. This jest depicted his roguish 
wit and his extreme frivolity at the same time. The offi- 
cers having assembled to be presented to the princess, he 
said to them : 

"I am most sensible, gentlemen, to your amiable assidu- 
ity; you shall see her; I warn you, alas! that she is not 
at all pretty, but, being at any rate very good and very sim- 
ple, she will be in nobody's way, not even in mine!" 

Being, at the time I speak of, already far advanced in 
years, she easily gave way to ill temper, but that was taken 
no notice of ; her acquaintances would then leave her to her 



112 MEMOIRS OF THE 

needlework, and, while she was doing the most atrocious 
embroidering, would form in groups about the prince and 
his daughters, with whom conversation was carried on in a 
spirit of enthusiasm and freedom, with a taste and grace 
I have never encountered elsewhere. By the report of old- 
time French people, the conversation of the Paris saloons 
had taken refuge in this humble little dwelling since the 
Revolution had banished it from the purlieus of the capital, 
where it had formerly flourished. I certainly never met 
so agreeable a society in Paris; there the politest pleasures 
were spoilt by political partisanship. Among the foremost 
frequenters of the de Ligne establishment I will mention 
Count Charles de Damas, who, obstinate in his emigration, 
persistently awaited the return of the Bourbons. Settled 
in Vienna for many years, he had but once absented him- 
self, during what he called the invasion of the hlues. 

No sooner was the town evacuated than he came back to 
stay, as in the past, with his old friends; but not without 
reluctance did he forgive the Prince de Ligne for having 
admitted his strayed coimtrymcn, as he called all those who 
had subscribed to the new government. Very clever, but 
subject to the queerest freaks, all his extravagances were 
overlooked because of his fine character and extreme origi- 
nality. I have heard him employ all his eloquence in prov- 
ing that it is sometimes permissible to show bad behaviour 
on condition of never showing bad taste, and hence he be- 
lieved in his right to say anything. 

We thought we should die of laughter one day when he 
related, in the most serious fashion in the world, how the 
second of the Prince de Ligne's daughters, Countess Palfify, 
an angel of virtue and purity, had induced him to make 
evil acquaintances, by pointing out the abode of the most 
famous "nymphs," in order, he said, to save the reputation 
of the respectable women he might pay his addresses to. 
Now, with a chin of which he had left half at the siege of 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 113 

Belgrade, and his fifty years, the poor hero offered suffi- 
cient guarantees of safety. 

Independently of the de Lignes, we spent our time profit- 
ably with some of our compatriots. One of the pleasantest 
houses, or rather one of the most refined, was the Countess 
Lanckoronska's, although, to say truth, the mistress was 
too much of an Austrian. 

One evening, as we were having an animated discussion, 
over a tea table, about current events, some one came in 
and proclaimed the arrival of a courier from Paris. Vienna 
had suffered much from the visit of the French ; the inhabi- 
tants were still labouring under painful reminiscences, and 
the secrecy observed as to the newly arrived despatches 
threw the town into consternation. 

With the exception of a few Poles assembled in this bril- 
liant saloon, all who were there hated Napoleon beyond 
measure. The most vehement, as well as the most danger- 
ous, of his enemies was undoubtedly the Corsican Pozzo 
di Borgo, who alone could talk and hate better than all 
the Germans in the room. We were listening to his prophe- 
cies when Count Razumowski, the Russian ambassador, 
was announced. 

We all ran to meet him, and overwhelmed him with ques- 
tions. The expression of his face was not reassuring. He 
seemed unhinged; his voice failed him. It was only after 
some minutes of premonitory silence that he was able to 
inform us that the mysterious courier, the cause of our 
recent apprehensions, was only preceding Marshal Berthier 
by a few hours, whose remarkable mission had the object 
of asking the Archduchess Marie-Louise in marriage for 
his august master. Moreover, this upstart soldier, this 
prince of yesterday's creation, was elected to the signal 
honour of representing the emperor and king on this aus- 
picious occasion! 

This startling proceeding was the sequel to the privy 



114 MEMOIRS OF THE 

negotiations concluded and signed by M. de Metternich, at 
Paris, by the sanction and in name of the Emperor Francis. 
The Prince de Neufchatel was at the extreme frontier met 
by one of the greatest noblemen of the country, Prince Paul 
Esterhazy. 

These details, communicated to us in a state of feverish 
irritation, could not but be true. You would have said that 
lightning, striking an electric wire, had pulverised the per- 
sons who were crowding round M. de Razumowski. The 
reaction was not long in coming; after an instant of mute 
stupour, a cry of horror spontaneously burst from the whole 
room. Exclamations were loud against the impropriety 
and baseness of a match that put the first princess of Europe 
into the power of the most infamous usurper! 

There was nothing but imprecations and stifled sobs. 
The ladies had nervous attacks, and the men let themselves 
go from indignation to fury. There is no more justice to 
be hoped for on this earth, was the cry. There is nothing 
to do but to leave Europe and become American colonists, 
said the women. The most sensitive declared that the 
young princess would die of it, and that such a sacrilege 
would never be consummated. Others asserted that Napo^ 
leon would become insane with glee, and that heaven would 
countenance such a scandal only to thunder down its wrath 
the heavier upon the modern Nebuchadnezzar. 

I was calm in the midst of the storm. A sudden idea 
seized upon my imagination. 

" How amusing," said I to myself, "to go to Paris now, 
for this brilliant misalliance!" 

I spent the remainder of the evening meditating over 
this project, and, on arriving at home, at once confided it 
to my husband. 

Unfortunately, he took no interest in anything outside 
his regular avocations, and was hoping to return to Poland. 



V, 



V 




WM 



^\M\ 



% 



Marie Louise, 
Archduchess of Austria, Empress of France. 

From an engraving r/iSro by Cardon of the portrait by Gu^rard 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 115 

Far from opposing my wish, which at bottom was as yet 
but a dream , he wrote to his parents, who hastened to send 
me not only their formal permission, but added instructions 
concerning an important piece of business they committed 
to my care. 

The day after this stormy tea party the same individuals 
met together at the same hour, at the same place, for, while 
severely disapproving the event, they were dying to hear the 
smallest details. It may be readily gathered that I was 
there too. 

Prince Esterhazy had conducted the ambassador to the 
imperial palace, where a lodging was ready for him, in spite 
of custom and etiquette. To make his official entry into 
the town, he was obliged to cross a bridge hastily thrown 
over the ruins of the fortifications which the French army 
had blown up as they retired. The very day of his ar- 
rival the marshal was received by the Emperor Francis in 
special audience, when the solemn demand was made. 

Thereupon the ambassador immediately remitted to the 
Archduke Charles an autograph letter from the Emperor 
Napoleon, which authorised that prince to marry the arch- 
duchess in his name. I had great trouble in procuring a 
copy of the letter ; however, I succeeded, and here it is : 

"Sir Cousin: I owe thanks to your Imperial High- 
ness for consenting to represent me in my marriage with 
the Archduchess Marie-Louise. Your Imperial Highness 
knows that my old esteem is founded on your eminent quali- 
ties, as well as on your great actions. Intensely desirous 
of giving you a rich proof hereof, I beg you to accept the 
grand cordon of the Legion of Honour, and also the cross 
of that order, which I always wear myself, and with which 
twenty thousand soldiers are decorated who have distin- 
guished themselves on the field of honour. The first of 
these decorations is the tribute due to your genius as a 
general, and the second to your bravery as a soldier." 



Il6 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

The next day but one the signature of the civil contract 
was proceeded with, and payment was made of the dowry 
allotted from times immemorial to archduchesses, which 
was limited to five hundred thousand francs in gold. 

The eleventh of March, 1810, the religious ceremony was 
celebrated at the Augustine church, followed by an imperial 
banquet, at which the ambassador was present, contrary to 
the etiquette of the court of Vienna, which in no case admits 
strangers to a family festivity. 



Jili'ffdi'co for tJir Z,lJr's ]rujiTZi7i<-. 




X K (• 11 D [' Iv E , 

/. ■ / / ' / /- ■ 



Fnvn an engraving, by Heath, 0/ iSlo. 



CHAPTER II 
M. DE NARBONNE 

MARIE-LOUISE's slipper — M, DE NARBONNE AT THE PRINCE 

DE LIGNE's A MENTOR ARRIVAL AT MUNICH THE 

BATH CELADON LONE JOURNEY TO STRASSBURG. 

In the meanwhile Count Louis de Narbonne appeared, as 
ambassador extraordinary, charged with escorting, or rather 
preceding, the young empress, in order to enforce the cere- 
monial governing such a case and to depart in nothing from 
the rites observed at the date of Marie-Antoinette's advent. 

Slightly favoured by nature, nothing was remarkable 
about Marie-Louise but the beauty of her foot. M. Ana- 
tole de Montesquiou, sent as a courier to apprise Napoleon 
of the accomplishment of the wedding and of the day fixed 
for the departure of the illustrious betrothed, was secretly 
enjoined by M. de Narbonne to present to His Majesty the 
little slipper of the princess in the form of a portrait. This 
entirely new kind of attention met with the highest appre- 
ciation at the French court. It was even said that Napo- 
leon had placed against his heart this first pledge of an, 
alas! ephemeral love. 

Projected into Austrian society to counterbalance Ber- 
thier's vulgarity and roughness by the behaviour of a great 
lord and the ways of a courtier, M. de Narbonne was most 
politely welcomed. 

117 



Il8 MEMOIRS OF THE 

I saw him daily at the de Lignes, where he had set up 
what he called his headquarters. There, stripping off his 
ambassadorial dignity, he often amused us at the expense of 
the great personages he was in communication with, who, 
indignant in their hearts at the proceedings, hardly knew 
what attitude to assume not to arouse displeasure by a too 
open disapprobation. 

An exceedingly amiable old gentleman, he had in his 
youth known glittering successes in gallantry at the court 
of France, Carried away by the Revolution, he seemed a 
faithful adherent of the imperial government, and exerted 
himself for a less futile sort of celebrity, but one less easily 
to be obtained. 

Created minister of war by Louis XVI., he kept this 
exalted place for three months only. The moderate roy- 
alists accused him of anglomania, claiming that foreign 
influence ought not to be tolerated. From another side 
he was furiously impeached by the clubs as an enemy of the 
Revolution and the Jacobins. He fled to Switzerland, and 
lost no time in embarking for England, where he learnt 
of the death of Robespierre. He was one of the first to 
greet the accession of Napoleon upon his return from Egypt. 

The Count de Narbonne was one of those richly gifted 
men who traverse history without leaving the glorious mark 
upon it that their talents ought to have impressed. A dis- 
tinguished soldier and an able diplomat, he had all that was 
wanted to play a notable part in those troublous times. 
Napoleon's renown fascinated him, and from the moment 
he saw his ambition satisfied, his affairs in order, and his 
debts paid, he attached himself to the conqueror. I have 
heard him acknowledge more than once that not only was 
Napoleon endowed with an entirely superior genius, but 
that he even had a very bright inind. This was infinitely 
more than the fair ladies of Vienna allowed him. I hap- 




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COUNTESS POTOCKA 119 

• 
pened to hear a discussion which tended to prove, by alleged 

incontestable facts, that the monster was a coward, and that 
soon he would become imbecile, seeing that he was succumb- 
ing to epilepsy. 

Despite these ridiculous calumnies, and even while in- 
dulging in the absurdest outcries, at the occasion of the 
betrothal the great Austrian lords displayed a luxury and 
magnificence unheard of elsewhere. The millions Napoleon 
lavished to put his representative at a level with his heredi- 
tary splendour could not efface that sort of glaring varnish 
which is the character of every new dynasty. 

I go back to M. de Narbonne, who is one of the actors 
in my memoirs, being the mentor to whom my husband en- 
trusted me. On reaching Paris he was to take me to my 
aunt. Countess Tyszkiewicz, resident for many years at the 
capital, which she could not bring it upon herself to quit. 

Nothing but the marriage ceremony was now delaying 
our start. 

I went to ask my mother's blessing, and to bid her fare- 
well. She evinced surprise at this sudden departure, to 
which she did not object when she found that my husband 
and his parents, far from hindering, were encouraging me. 

My preparations for the journey were soon concluded. 
On the appointed day I set out, preceded by His Excellency 
the Ambassador Extraordinary, who was good enough to 
order my horses and engage my lodgings. A more splen- 
did beginning could not have been expected. 

At the second relay my escort requested permission to 
ride in my coach, so as to send on his own carriages in 
advance. 

I assented the more readily as, being alone in the enor- 
mous vehicle, I had more room than I wanted. I promised 
myself invaluable company. M. de Narbonne, a witness 
of the great revolutionary drama, knew all the prominent 



I20 MEMOIRS OF THE 

* 
personages of that period; he knew perfectly how to put 
his audience into touch with his experiences, for he pos- 
sessed the art of narration to the highest degree. What a 
godsend on a long journey ! 

Perhaps at the fireside he might sometimes have ap- 
peared to run after wit, and to use the insipid phrases of 
a superannuated gallantry, but on the highroads one is less 
fastidious. Moreover, exceedingly amiable, kind, gentle, 
and obliging, governed by his valet — the veritable valet of 
the play, who ruined him while feeding his taste for ex- 
travagance—he was never in anxiety and always in affable 
mood. 

We rolled on to Munich without halting except for light 
repasts, most elegantly served by the adroit Frontin, and 
prepared by the ambassador's head cook. 

This manner of travel suited me all the better as I was 
far from suspecting the motive which actuated my mentor, 
and the price he intended to put on his attentions. I 
credited them to the age in which M. de Narbonne had 
begun life, and simply thought any old-time Frenchman 
would have done likewise. 

At two stations from Munich the count went on before 
me, kindly undertaking to find me quarters, which was not 
easy, since all the hotels were filled with the numerous train 
of the Queen of Naples, and also with the attendants pro- 
vided for the young empress. 

I arrived at Munich at nine in the evening, and was 
directed, by a message left at the town gate, to the Prinzen- 
hof; there I not only found a handsome apartment, but a 
bath all ready. 

Scarcely was I in the water, when a small door hidden 
by a mirror opened softly, and, to my great terror, a man 
slipped into the room and fell on one knee beside my bath. 
I gave a dreadful shriek. My maid had just gone out to 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 12 1 

get my dress ready, but luckily she had left me a bell, 
which I rang violently. Before she answered I had time 
to inspect the cause of my sudden fright. It was that poor 
M. de Narbonne himself! Alarmed at the effect he was 
producing, he maintained his humble posture motionless. I 
thought for an instant he had gone mad, and I looked at 
him with mingled pity and fear. 

He had changed his costume. I had never seen him in 
such studied attire ; to complete the extraordinary masquer- 
ade, which transformed an ancient sexagenarian into a 
dandy of the day, he had put on rouge! 

Inextinguishable laughter succeeded the fright I had un- 
dergone when my old Celadon tried to impart his flame in 
words. My maid, whom I continued to ring for, at last 
came in, and the poor hero of this absurd adventure, rising 
with some difficulty, escaped in dire confusion. 

Henceforth we could not have travelled together without 
feeling mortal embarrassment. I therefore sent for my 
travelling steward, and told him I had decided to leave at 
daybreak. I ordered him to pay liberally, and to keep my 
plan silent. All were still asleep in the hotel while, seated 
in my coach, I was starting out directly for Strassburg, 
where I wanted to see the cathedral and the tomb of the 
Marshal de Saxe. This journey, interesting in itself, was 
chiefly so to me because of the circumstances; moreover, I 
was leaving Poland for the first time ; until then my travels 
had not gone beyond the town of Vienna, where I used to 
visit my mother. 



CHAPTER III 
CEREMONIAL ENTRY INTO PARIS 

THE COUNTESS TYSZKIEWICZ — DISENCHANTMENT — PARI- 
SIAN PLEASANTRIES THE PROCESSION PICTURE OF 

MARIE-LOUISE THE IMPERIAL GUARD THE PAGES THE 

SPIRIT OF THE CROWD — PRESENTATION TO MADAME DE 
SOUZA. 

My aunt had had an apartment engaged for me at Paris, in 
the Place Louis XV., in the handsome building known as 
the Garde-Meuble. There was then a furnished house 
there, to which I immediately repaired. 

Countess Tyszkiewicz came to see me the day after my 
arrival. Much interested in current events, she wanted to 
know the talk of Vienna. 

Said she, after her curiosity was satisfied: 

"Napoleon is himself surprised at the greatness of his 
destiny." 

My aunt did not like the emperor, but she feared him, 
and she gave vent to her disrespectful astonishment in a 
low tone of voice. 

"Imagine the luck of that man ! It seems to be a matter 
of fact that no one can resist him," she said. "After up- 
setting the world, vanquivshing Austria, and blowing up the 
ramparts of the capital, the unhappy king whom he has thus 
humiliated gives him his daughter, while suing for peace!" 

122 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



123 



My aunt, who was secretly attached to the Faubourg 
Saint-Germain, where M. de Talleyrand had introduced her, 
pretended to know everything that transpired at the Tuile- 
ries, through the connections M. de Talleyrand had there. 
She assured me that the emperor had at first been dazzled 
by the brilliancy of such a match, but that the extraordinary 
conduct of Marie-Louise had quickly dispelled the charm, 
and in two days Napoleon's exquisite politeness had given 
way to the rather too imperative manners of the great man, 
justified on this occasion, however, by the example of Henry 
IV. He went to meet his young bride, and established 
himself at Compiegne, where, by a facility entirely mis- 
placed towards one who expected to inspire a sort of aver- 
sion, this princess disillusioned the hero, and disenchanted 
all of those who had been pleased to look upon her as a 
victim sacrificed to the repose of Europe. The Compiegne 
reception gave the Parisians food for discussion for at least 
a week. The Asiatic luxury which the emperor had dis- 
played in the interior arrangements of the palace was un- 
sparingly criticised. 

The dressing-room had been draped with the most beau- 
tiful Indian shawls. It was maliciously asserted that Jose- 
phine's formed the richest ornaments, though it was after- 
wards proved that Napoleon never touched the gifts he had 
lavished upon his first wife. 

After minutely surveying all the details of this reception, 
probable results were rumoured about, in a zvhisper. In 
less than two hours Paris knew how the young sovereign 
was to be taken, and I was not a little surprised at the free- 
dom of the comments which circulated in the saloons. 
Neither bad jokes nor puns were excluded. As we were 
entering Holy Week, the remark was ventured that the 
future empress wished to make her entrance as a saint, and 
this feeble pun met with tremendous favour, for the French, 



124 MEMOIRS OF THE 

extremely particular about native wit, are not enough so 
when it is made to order. 

The promise of the wedding solemnities, and the festivi- 
ties to follow, sent people's thoughts into another channel. 

I had to choose between two equally interesting sights: 
either to witness the grand entry of the august pair among 
the immense crowds who were to await them in the Champs- 
filysees, or shut myself up early in the morning, in full 
dress, in the Tuileries chapel, whither my aunt would take 
me. I decided in favour of the entry, the more strongly as, 
not having yet been able to be presented, it seemed to me 
improper to intrigue for a ticket and usurp a place. 

I saw the royal procession from my window. The em- 
peror, in Spanish dress — the same he had worn at the coro- 
nation — was in a gilded glass carriage, harnessed with eight 
Andalusian horses of rare beauty. Their dun coats per- 
fectly matched the green of the gorgeous harness stitched 
with gold and silver. They went at a walk, and seemed 
quite proud of the part allotted them. 

Marie-Louise, covered with the diamonds of Golconda, 
seated at the emperor's right, did not appear to absorb his 
entire attention. He seemed anxious, and observant of the 
effect which the imposing spectacle made on the populace, 
listening absent-mindedly to the few words addressed to 
him by his young wife, whose Austrian bows would have 
ruined a prettier face than hers. The French, spoiled by 
the beauty of Josephine, and not well pleased with this 
match, remained cool and impassive. There was no enthu- 
siasm, and not much in the way of acclaim. 

To tell the number of generals and marshals who pre- 
ceded and followed the imperial carriage, in full uniform 
and on horseback, would be tedious work, and nearly as 
difficult as to name the kings and queens gathered together 
to take part in this magnificent affair. Their resplendent 




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COUNTESS POTOCKA 125 

carriages, their numerous trains, the richness and variety 
of the dresses, the beauty of the women, the ghtter of the 
diamonds — it was all wonderful. But nothing, to my 
mind, could equal the splendid line composed by the Im- 
perial Guard, grown old under arms, and distinguished on 
many battlefields, where, led on by the miraculous gray 
cloak, they had many a time settled the question of victory. 
They alone frantically hailed their chief, whom they saw 
in all the grandeur of majesty. 

Round the imperial coach, pages "scarcely emerged from 
childhood," richly clad and standing on steps symmetrically 
placed, like butterflies ready to fly away at the least sign, 
gave a poetical touch to the cumbersome vehicle. When 
the gate of the Tuileries garden, which was only opened 
once a year — when the emperor went to the legislature — 
was closed on the royal party, who among us would have 
thought it was never to open again in triumph? Alas! 
The happy days were gone by ! The rumbling of the storm 
was to begin. 

The illuminations and fireworks continued far into the 
night. Wine spurted from the fountains, gold and medals 
were distributed in profusion — it was all gorgeous and mag- 
nificent, but there was neither joy nor heartfelt mirth. 

Some — and they were the majority — regretted Josephine, 
whose rare kindness and gracious manner had endeared her 
to the nation; others regarded the arrival of an Austrian 
princess as a presage of ill fortune. Nearly all, tired of 
war, of triumphs, and conquests, had got into the state of 
being dissatisfied with everything; having nothing left to 
wish for, they gave rein to the discontent that the incessantly 
renewed conscriptions nourished in the bosoms of their 
families. Nor did the crowd appear to partake in this splen- 
did celebration, excepting through a mechanical curiosity. 

Whoever have written their memoirs must have felt 



126 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

some sort of embarrassment in speaking of themselves. 
And so I have not yet mentioned my interview with M. de 

F . After several fruitless attempts upon the porter, 

he finally forced his way, and suddenly appeared at my 
door. He had met the Duke de Dalberg on the staircase, who 
had been to see me, and thought he had the right to resist 
any further refusals. 

I admit that his appearance troubled me. We talked 
of everything I should have to see and do. He offered me 
his services and his advice, and told me that his mother 
wished to make my acquaintance; she wanted to thank me 
for the consideration my parents had shown her son during 
the visit of the French to Warsaw. 

He proposed to pay me a visit vv^ith her the next morn- 
ing. I accepted the more eagerly as I was very curious to 
meet a person whose delightful novels and letters had 
charmed me. 

It was quite natural that I should do my utmost to be 
agreeable to her, but I quickly perceived the uselessness of 
my exertions. Madame de Souza was concerned with her- 
self exclusively ; she trimmed every one of her sentences, 
and interjected into the conversation happy and sparklmg 
sayings which seemed prepared. In her mode of expres- 
sion there was neither charm nor warmth; it was better to 
read her works than to listen to her conversation. I was 
furthermore shocked by a kind of intimacy she tried to 
establish, from the first day, between us three. She had 
fatuity in her son! Pride, one might have pardoned her. 
But the presumption with which she seemed to predict his 
conquests were not in good taste; himself appeared to be 
embarrassed by it, and made vain efforts to make his mother 
return to a more serious and proper tone. I took umbrage 
at such thinly disguised impudence, and was polite but cold ; 
we separated none too well pleased with each other. 




Marquise de Souza-Botelho, the Novelist 
(Afterwards Comtesse de Flahaut, and mother of "Charles de F- 
of the present "Memoirs"). 

From ail engraving by Massard after Staal. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE COURT 

THE EMPEROR MARIE-LOUISE COURT PARADOXES ELISA 

PAULINE BORGHESE— THE QUEEN OF NAPLES THE 

PRINCESS DE TALLEYRAND COUNTESS TYSZKIEWICZ's 

CIRCLE. 

As soon as the empress was installed at the Tuileries the 
presentations were proceeded with. As a foreigner, I was 
to be presented not only to the emperor and empress, but 
also to all the queens and princesses of the family. Each 
had her day, and so every morning it was a case of a long 
and fatiguing toilet, and of spending the best hours of the 
day in putting on and taking off a court dress. In the even- 
ing came rest — at the theatre. 

The emperor received about noon, in his study. Stand- 
ing with one hand leaning on his desk, he waited, bestowing 
a gracious glance on you if you were young and pretty. 

He received me with unusual civility, which considerably 
diminished the awkwardness of the ceremony. He was 
good enough to ask news of everybody in my family. 

Leaving the emperor's study, we passed into the em- 
press' waiting-room, where a number of people were al- 
ready assembled. She was quitting her apartments, fol- 
lowed by a numerous and dazzling train. The taste with 
VN^hich she was dressed had made her a little less ugly, but 
the expression of her face remained the same. Not an 

127 



128 MEMOIRS OF THE 

affable smile, not an inquiring look lit np that wooden face. 
She went round the circle of her visitors, moving from one 
to the other like those machine dolls that go when they are 
wound up, showing off their stiff, slender figures, and their 
large, pale-blue, porcelain eyes, staring and fixed. 

The emperor walked at her side, prompting her in what 
she had to say, chiefly to the people whom he wished to 
favour. When my turn came, the lady who was presenting 
me having given the 5'oung sovereign my name, I distinctly 
overheard the words, very graceful, muttered by Napoleon. 
She repeated them so drily, and with such a Teutonic ac- 
cent, that they charmed me very slightly. 

This court, so magnificent from a distance, lost by being 
seen at close quarters. A sort of confusion and discord 
were observable there which counteracted the air of great- 
ness and dignity one had a right to expect. The wives of 
the marshals, little accustomed to the court mantle, were 
placed b}^ the side of the most elegant and best dressed 
women. It was almost the same thing with their husbands, 
whose embroidered uniforms, so resplendent on parade, so 
fine on the field of battle, contrasted unpleasantly with rather 
vnicultured language and manners. It was like a rehearsal, 
at which the actors were trying on their dresses and repeat- 
ing their parts. This extraordinary mixture would have 
evoked laughter if the principal character had not inspired 
a sort of respect and fear, which made the idea of absurdity 
vanish, or at least annulled it. 

Napoleon's sisters did not resemble each other in the least. 

Elisa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, added to her brother's 
features an infinitely harder expression. A great deal of 
mind and character was attributed to her; nevertheless, I 
have never heard anything quoted that she did or said. 
The great are always surrounded by echoes ready to repeat 
any able thing they may utter. Silence is a kind of denial. 
So I was not much impressed. 




The TuiLERiES. 

From an e7igraving of iSlS by Couch^fils. 




The Palace of the Tuileries. 

From an eiigravhig by Floyd after Allom. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 129 

Princess Pauline Borghese was a type of classical beauty 
to be found in Greek statues. Despite the things she did 
which hastened the ravages of time, in the evening, by the 
aid of a little artifice, she captured all suffrages, and not a 
woman would have dared to dispute her the apple which 
Canova awarded her after unveiled contemplation, as it was 
said. 

To the most delicate and regular features imaginable 
she added an admirable figure too often admired. Thanks 
to so many graces, her wit passed unnoticed; nothing but 
her gallantries were spoken of, and certainly they gave 
plenty of matter for discussion. 

The youngest of the three, Caroline, Queen of Naples, 
did not approach her sister in classic beauty; but she had 
a much more mobile countenance, a dazzling fair com- 
plexion, irreproachable arms, hands, and waist, and, with- 
out being tall, carried herself like a queen. You would 
have said that she had come into the world all prepared for 
the part which fate had in store for her. As to her intel- 
lect, it is sufficient to quote Talleyrand's saying, who as- 
serted that this head of a pretty woman rested on the shoul- 
ders of a statesman. 

No one was surprised at the emperor's choosing her to go 
to meet his betrothed. Still, the enormous difference exist- 
ing between Marie-Louise and Caroline prevented their 
ever understanding or liking each other. 

Hortense, Queen of Holland, was away, as well as her 
sister-in-law, the wife of the Viceroy of Italy ; they had left 
a few days after my arrival. I could, therefore, rest. 

My aunt took the opportunity to take me to M. de Tal- 
leyrand's, whose slave she had been for a quarter century. 
Delayed at the court by the exercise of his duties, Talley- 
rand was not able to return in time to receive us, and sent 
his excuses. It was a simple matter; nobody thought of 
making a formality of it. 



130 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



What appeared stranger to us was that, entering the 
drawing-room, we only found a maid-of-honour of the 
princess to receive us. We were informed that, seduced 
by a ray of sunlight, Her Highness had just gone out to 
take a turn in the Bois. Guests arrived in succession, and, 
as the person charged with doing the honours in the ab- 
sence of the mistress of the house had predicted, we waited 
more than an hour. Excuses would have been quite in 
order, but, fearing derogation if she evinced politeness, the 
princess swept in with a majestic air, talked to us about 
the fine weather and about the balmy atmosphere, finding 
it most natural that we should have waited for her. 

After that I avoided the company of Madame de Talley- 
rand, impertinent princesses not being to my taste, espe- 
cially when they are upstarts. She, known all over Paris 
as Madame Grand, was such a nonentity that it was im- 
possible to conceal it; not even her rank could do it. Her 
blunders were quoted, just like her husband's witty sayings. 

At this time she was at least sixty. Nevertheless, her 
position secured her flatterers, who told her she was still 
beautiful. She also indulged in extensive hair-dressing, 
and wore flowers on her head. 

When M. de Talleyrand sat down to his game of whist, 
or was absent, a deadly tedium reigned in those rooms. 
And yet the greater number of the regular frequenters of 
the house were clever people. The princess laid claims to 
greatness, and to authority on questions of etiquette, which 
made her unendurable. All who could boast independence, 
and had no official relations with the prince, only went to 
his place when they were sure of finding him alone. 

Once a week, or thereabouts, M. de Talleyrand's friends 
met at my aunt's, where I was scarcely any better enter- 
tained. She invited distinguished compatriots and passing 
strangers in turn. Her house was much in vogue. 




HoRTENSE, Queen of Holland. 

From an engraving by Regnault of the portrait by herself. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 131 

I can hardly tell the unpleasant surprise I felt at seeing 
that the sole amusement was to gamble for fabulous sums. 
The bank was kept by men whom nobody knew nor spoke 
to; they spread out their wealth, so as to tempt the specta- 
tors. The guests seemed to shrink from their touch; they 
were treated like pariahs. Their suspicious glances trav- 
elled from one to another, without for a moment losing sight 
of the gamblers' hands. In all this there was something 
humiliating and devilish. The love of gain alone presided 
at this strange pastime. The drawn faces of the gamblers, 
the stolid, impassive attitude of the bankers, the silence that 
reigned in the cardroom — where in one night the whole 
happiness of a family was often staked — it was all odious 
to me. I could not withhold an exhibition of astonishment, 
perhaps even of my artless innocence, but my aunt replied 
coldly that it was easily seen / came from a distance, that 
such diversions were indulged in everywhere, and that the 
prince, a hard worker, came to her house for distractions 
which his position forbade him at home. 

It was at this infernal table that for the first time I met 
the Duchess de Luynes, built like a policeman and dressed 
like the commonest woman; she played furiously, had a 
stentorian voice, laughed boisterously, argued with choice 
coarseness — the whole passing for originality. It was even 
the fashion to admire the nobility and staunchness of her 
character, and the constancy of her opinions. As for me, 
I never could habituate myself to that masculine exterior 
and those guard-house manners. 

Ah, my dear Hotel de Ligne, how often I remembered it ! 
Floods of light did not illuminate that modest little saloon; 
the frugal supper in no way resembled the banquets pre- 
sented to these sybarites ! But what a variety of cleverness 
and wit, what charming and open hilarity! How prefer- 
able was that anchorite's fare to these sad feasts ! 



CHAPTER y 
THE FESTIVITIES 

THE PRINCESS BORGHESE AT NEUILLY — THE CASTLE OF 
SCHOENBRUNN — MARIE-LOUISE's EMOTION — THE BALL 
AT THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY. 

The Princess Pauline was the first to entertain the illus- 
trious pair. It was in the month of May. Neuilly, where 
she lived, seenied to have put on a crown of flowers to 
receive the brilliant throng, which flocked from all parts of 
the earth to witness all these wonders. 

At the park gate the carriages were ordered to stop at 
a theatre improvised by fairies. Light, transparent gal-"~ 
leries, grass stairs adorned with exotic plants, boxes deco- 
rated with garlands of flowers and filled with pretty women, 
a starred canopy — this whole poetical and surprising scene 
recalled the gardens of Armida. The young empress, who 
generally admired nothing, could not suppress a slight ex- 
clamation on setting foot in this hall where she was ex- 
pected. 

The emperor, with more grace and cordiality, evinced 
astonishment and satisfaction; he thanked his sister deli- 
cately. 

The best actors of the Theatre Frangais acted a piece to 
which no one listened ; the most renowned dancers executed 

132 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 133 

a ballet which no one looked at ! Golden harps, melodious 
chants, celestial music, would have been needed there! 

The play ended, Pauline took her sister's arm, and the 
royal procession, which we followed, made towards the ball- 
room across the park, lit up by means of thousands of lamps 
concealed under the hedges of flowers whose perfume em- 
balmed the air. 

Several orchestras, distributed with infinite cunning, suc- 
cessively answered each other in imitation of mountain 
echoes; these newly devised harmonies produced a ravish- 
ing effect. 

We thus passed from marvel to marvel. Now it was a 
pretty temple, where love was awakened, caught by the 
graces; now a hermitage of stern aspect; pilgrims return- 
ing from Palestine were begging hospitality; the hermit 
opened the little grated door of his rustic chapel, and the 
singing began. All talents were summoned to this festal 
event. The graces came from the opera and the pilgrims 
from the conservatory. 

The singing and dancing had no other purpose than to 
eulogise the perfections of the young empress, and in every 
way to celebrate the gladness her coming had aroused. 
Love proffered her a crown of roses pilfered from the 
graces, and the troubadours sang romances full of praise 
and hope. 

Insensibly the pathway contracts, the grove darkens, 
the harmonious sounds fade away, and the fairy who has 
created all these spells affects great displeasure; she pre- 
tends to have lost her way, and takes us along barren walks. 

We cross a hanging bridge, under which the water forms 
a cascade so skilfully lighted that it seems on fire. 

In the midst of the silence the emperor's voice is heard; 
he complains of the darkness, and has the manner of really 
believing that his sister has mistaken the road, when of a 



134 MEMOIRS OF THE 

sudden, at the turn of a maze, we merge abruptly upon a 
lawn flooded with a light so bright that you would have 
said it was stolen from the sun. 

At the end of the lawn stood the Castle of Schoenbrunn, 
with its great court, its fountains, its portals, and, in addi- 
tion, with movement and life such as are foreign to that 
gorgeous habitation. There were the components of fes- 
tivity: carriages, bands of promenaders, bashful dairy- 
maids with the traditional cap, farm hands impressed from 
among the imperial footmen, groups of Tyroleans coming 
forward to the tune of bagpipes and dancing the national 
waltz. The art with which at this distance the proportions 
of the huge castle had been reproduced, the scientific man- 
agement of light and shade effects, ever3''thing deceived the 
eye so perfectly that it was allowable to believe in magic; 
and those who, like myself, knew Schoenbrunn could im- 
agine themselves in that royal dwelling. 

The courtiers asserted that at this sight the empress had 
burst into tears! That would have been most natural. The 
memories of her childhood ought to have drawn some tears 
from her, but I can testify that her emotion, if she had any, 
was very evanescent, for at the moment I looked at her I- 
perceived no trace of feeling in her cold and stolid counte- 
nance. As for the emperor, he thanked his sister repeatedly, 
and gave her infinite credit for the pains she had bestowed 
on the arrangements for this celebration, the first and finest 
of all that were held in honour of Marie-Louise. 

The Prince de Schwartzemberg, the Austrian ambassa- 
dor, had consented to yield in that respect only to the new 
empress' sister-in-law. The ball he gave followed the Neuilly 
festivity, and owed its celebrity to the dreadful catastrophe 
which made it historical. The space at the embassy was 
not large enough to accommodate the two thousand people 
invited; in the middle of the garden an enormous ballroom 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 135 

had been built, communicating with the apartments by a 
handsome gallery. This room and this gallery, made of 
boards, were covered with striped canvas, and inside hung 
with pink satin and silver gauze draperies. I happened to 
be in the gallery when the conflagration declared itself, and 
I perhaps owed my salvation to an incident which had an- 
noyed me very much. 

I was wearing an open tulle dress, and where it met a 
bunch of white lilac was fastened to my girdle by a diamond 
chain composed of lyres hooked one into another; when I 
danced this chain came undone. The Countess de Brignole, 
who was my chaperon that evening, observing that I was 
about to waltz with the viceroy, was good enough to take 
me into the gallery to assist me in removing the importunate 
chain. While she was kindly attending to this task, I was 
one of the first to notice the slight smoke from a candela- 
brum placed under a gauze festoon. Several young men 
having gathered about us, I hastened to show them what 
was as yet but a warning. At once one of them jumped 
upon a bench ; wishing to avert the danger, he violently tore 
down the draping, which in its rapid descent over the can- 
dlesticks took fire and spread the flame to the striped canvas 
ceiling. Very fortunately for myself, Madame de Brig- 
nole did not face the danger, but, without a moment's de- 
lay, seized my arm, went through all the rooms at a run, 
rushed to the bottom of the staircase, and did not draw 
breath until she had crossed the street and had taken refuge 
in Madame de Regnault's house, opposite the embassy. 
Falling on a sofa there, exhausted by the race and her agi- 
tation, she pointed me to the balcony, so that I might take 
account of what was ensuing. This sudden alarm was in- 
comprehensible to me, for I should have preferred to con- 
tinue to dance, so impossible did a menace of danger seem 
in a place where the emperor was ! 



136 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Soon clouds of smoke enveloped the ballroom and gal- 
lery we had just left. The music was heard no longer; 
noisy confusion had incontinently succeeded the gaiety and 
splendour of the party. Screams, groans reached us; the 
wind carried distinct words, despairing accents; people 
called each other, sought each other, wanted certainty of the 
fate of those they loved, and who were incurring this awful 
peril. 

Among the victims was the Princess de Schwartzemberg, 
the ambassador's sister-in-law, who, missing her daughter 
from her side, dashed into the flames ; — she was crushed by 
a chandelier whose rope had given way. Alas! her child, 
safe from danger, was loudly crying out for her. The 
Princess de la Leyen suffered the same fate, but survived 
for a few days. Her daughter was affianced to I know 
not what German prince; she had the strength of mind to 
insist upon the accomplishment of the marriage at her bed 
of pain. A number of other persons perished. It was the 
less spoken of as many of the names were unknown by those 
who, come from abroad or from the provinces, thus paid for 
an instant of pleasure with their lives. Some of the women 
were robbed of their jewellery; thieves having scaled the 
wall separating the garden from the street, they drove their 
trade in full security under cover of the general confusion. 

In a few minutes Madame Regnault's saloon was filled 
with sufferers. It was a spectacle at once terrifying and 
weird to see all those people in floral wreaths and ball 
dresses wailing in a manner that contrasted so cruelly with 
their finery. 

So we spent a great portion of the night in comforting 
and relieving them as much as lay in our power. When 
daylight came we had to think of going home. Servants 
and carriages had all disappeared. Those who could walk 
found themselves reduced to going on foot in their ball 







Prince Schwarzenberg. 

From an engraving by Lignon after a drawing by Vigneroti. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 137 

dresses and white satin shoes. At that early hour the 
streets are crowded with market waggons; we were prob- 
ably taken for lunatics, and we were subjected to the broad- 
sides of some jokers. 

However frivolous the Parisians may be, this accident 
created a lively and profound impression. It gave rise to 
all kinds of suggestions; it was ascribed to the machina- 
tions of infamous politicians. What is certain is that 
zealous courtiers persuaded the emperor to retire before the 
crowd had blocked all the issues, so attempting to sow an 
odious suspicion in his mind ; but, always composed in dan- 
ger. Napoleon would not listen to these contemptible in- 
sinuations. He went back to the embassy after putting the 
empress into her carriage, telling Prince Schwartzemberg 
that he came to help him extinguish the fire. 

This phrase produced a great effect, penetrated the Aus- 
trians with admiration and gratitude. All the Germans 
present at the festivity, headed by the ambassador, sur- 
rounded the emperor, and this rampart of more or less hos- 
tile hearts for the moment equalled a detachment of the 
Imperial Guard. 



CHAPTER VI 
SOCIETY 

AT DENOn's — THE MUMMY's FOOT — THE VISCOUNTESS DE 

Laval's circle — petrarch and laura — a dinner at 
M. DE Talleyrand's — the duke de laval — the da- 

VOUTS AT SAVIGNY THE MARSHAL'S PARTRIDGES M. DE 

F T LUNCHEON WITH MADAME DE SOUZA LABE- 

DOYERE THE DUCHESS OF COURLAND TALLEYRAND AND 

HIS SERAGLIO. 

My social career once begun, its duties took up all my time. 
I barely was able to find a moment, of a morning, in which 
to visit the museums and studios. I had met M. Denon. 
He had exquisite taste, delightful good-humour, and was 
obliging beyond measure. He was good enough to escort 
me to the Louvre, which at that time was enriched by 
works of art captured from Italy. A few days after, the 
amiable director invited me to luncheon in order to show 
me his little private museum — a collection of valuable arti- 
cles he had gathered in all countries, especially in Egypt. 
He was very proud of a little mummy's foot, which was so 
attractive, so dainty, and so nicely oxidised b}^ time that 
there was a temptation to steal it, to make a paper-weight 
of it. 

"Look," said M. Denon, "at this wonderful thing ! You 

138 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 139 

must know that it probably comes down, by a direct line 
of descent, from the Pharaohs." 

"Who knows," said I, "perhaps it is a foot of one of the 
wives of Sesostris." 

"Let it be Sesostris, then," he replied; "but at that rate, 
she was the woman he loved best, and mourned all his life." 

My aunt had presented me to her friends. They nearly 
all lived in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, which is to say 
that they were of the Opposition. They abused everything, 
mourned a great deal, and did not enjoy themselves at all. 
I only enjoyed myself moderately among them. The only 
pleasant house my aunt took me to was the Viscountess 
Laval's. This clever woman had taken the cheerful side 
of things; she gloried, so to speak, in poverty, never men- 
tioned her losses, and did not seem to resent others having 
become rich. Their fortunes had to console them for not 
being Montmorencys — that was all ! 

A select society from which the young people of all 
parties were not excluded, to enter which they even made 
plots, often met in the viscountess' small drawing-room. 
To be seen there conferred a mark of urbanity and good 
taste. The household — I mean to say the servants — con- 
sisted of a butler and a negress, who was something be- 
tween a slave and a confidant. She came in to make the 
tea. At these very modest entertainments I have seen all 
the most distinguished people in Paris assembled. M. de 
Talleyrand and the Duchess of Courland were among the 
most assiduous of the regular visitors. Madame de Talley- 
rand never came : she did herself justice. It was only there 
that I heard people talk freely; politics and the partisan 
spirit were tabooed. Madame de Laval indicated the theme 
of conversation with infinite skill. As soon as she saw the 
actors had taken up their parts she was silent, and appeared 
absorbed with her skein of coarse wool, unless a particularly 



I40 MEMOIRS OF THE 

interesting question aroused her. Then the others, in their 
turn, became silent; she spoke with such an original and 
fascinating charm that every one fell under her spell. She 
had been extremely pretty, and her black, intelligent eyes 
were still surprisingly lustrous. I have heard a story as 
to how her old brother-in-law, the Duke de Laval, so famous 
for his innocent remarks, one day wishing to express the 
admiration he felt for that velvety glance, exclaimed: 

*Tt must be acknowledged, sister, that your eyes are the 
colour of velvet breeches." 

I knew this poor duke in deep humiliation. His blunders 
made me die of laughter; I even conceived the notion of 
making a collection of them, for they were really remark- 
able; unhappily — or very happily — one forgets nonsense 
quickly. 

I shall tell the following anecdote, however : 

It was at a dinner at M. de Talleyrand's. We were at 
table ; the long awaited Duke de Laval finally arrived. The 
master of the house, much politer than his wife, lost himself 
in apologies. The duke at this time indulged in the mania 
of buying old portraits; he ingenuously confessed that a 
sale of pictures had retarded him. 

"I wager," said M. de Talleyrand, "that you have been 
acquiring some old daub again." 

"Oh, well, so I have!" replied the duke with importance. 
"It is one of the daubs you would be glad enough to take 
to adorn your library — the portraits of two celebrated char- 
acters." 

"Bah!" said M. de Talleyrand, with his disdainful lip, 
"and who are these characters?" 

"Wait a little," answered the poor dilettante, visibly em- 
barrassed and eating his soup, to give himself time for re- 
flection, "The woman's name is the same as Madame de 
Regnault's: she is a certain Laura. As to the gentleman. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 141 

I always forget his name; it is something like patraque!" 
(French for rubbishy or trumpery old thing). 

Every one was silent ; it was one of those perfidious pauses 
which always precede outbursts of mad laughter. 

And here is the host apostrophising the poor duke on his 
slender memory, without the least regard for his guests, at 
whom he casts quiet but malicious glances. 

"Then learn the names of your heroes once for all, my 
dear friend; you of course wanted to say Laura and Plu- 
tarch." 

"Yes, that is it ! — That devil of a Plutarch, I am always 
forgetting him. There were some at the sale who said 
Petrarch, it seems to me, but they were ignoramuses who 
knew the real name of Laura's lover no better than I did. 
Plutarch! Everybody knows that! I knew it too — it's 
historical !" 

This was too much; the long restrained shouts of laugh- 
ter were Homeric. M. de Talleyrand alone held aloof 
from our hilarity, and, throwing a sly look at the whole 
company, had the audacity to question the duke as to this 
mirth, whose reason he pretended not to guess. 

Madame de Souza, whose son was unwell, suddenly left 
us, glad to have something to amuse her patient with. For 

some days, indeed, I had not seen M. de F , but every 

morning a bunch of violets was handed me, accompanied 
by my programme for the day. Now there was something 
curious to see, or again a compulsory visit which must not 
be neglected. It was in this way that I went to the Lady 
Marshal Davout's, who had heaped civilities on me during 
her sojourn at Warsaw at the time when her husband was in 
command in Poland. As she spent her summers at Sa- 
vigny, it was thither I had to go to find her. I sent to her 
town house, to know what the most suitable hour would be 
for me to pay my visit. The answer was that the morning 



142 MEMOIRS OF THE 

would be. I therefore betook myself to Savigny under a 
burning sky, badly protected by a very small hat trimmed 
with violets, and very much encumbered in my lilac laced 
boots exactly matching a high-necked dress of Neapolitan 
cloth of the same colour — Madame Germont, the oracle of 
fashion, having herself devised my whole costume. 

This matutinal dressing up seemed to me slightly un- 
timely. 

However that might have been, I promised myself an 
agreeable visit. The lady's Paris house had given me a 
great idea of her taste and her wealth, and I expected to find 
her luxuriously bestowed at Savigny. I arrived at about 
three o'clock. The castle, surrounded by a moat and a 
wall, had an hermetically closed door for an entrance. The 
grass grew in the moat ; you would have said it was a place 
abandoned many years before. My lackey having at length 
found the bell-pull, a rather ill-clad little girl came out, 
after some minutes, to ask what we wanted. 

"Is the lady marshal at home?" 

"Oh ! I beg your pardon, they are, and the marshal, too," 
answered the little girl. 

And at once she ran for one of the men-servants of the-, 
castle, who followed her without hurrying, the while but- 
toning his livery. 

I sent in my name, and, leaning back in my carriage, 
waited a long time, again hardly knowing whether to per- 
sist or merely to leave a card. 

After a short quarter of an hour a footman at last pre- 
sented himself at the carriage door, and asked me into a 
large courtyard ; he apologised for the slowness of the at- 
tendance, confessing without any ado that when I arrived 
the servants were working in the garden, and that himself 
was occupied in cleaning up the orchard. 

I was taken through several entirely denuded rooms; I 







Mme. Regnault 1)E St. Jean D'Angely. 

l<'rom a Utiwgraph of a drawing by Clia»ipagne. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 1 43 

was shown into one little less ornamental than the first, but 
at least there were a sofa and chairs! The lady marshal 
was not long in appearing. I easily perceived she had 
dressed up for me, for she was still sticking some pins into 
her bodice. After a few minutes of languishing conversa- 
tion she rang to have her husband notified. Then we re- 
sumed our painful interview. It was not that Madame 
Davout was deficient in the ways of the world, or devoid 
of that sort of cleverness which facilitates intercourse be- 
tween two people of the same social rank, but there was a 
certain stiffness about her which might have been taken for 
haughtiness. She never lost the marshalship from sight; 
never did a gracious smile animate her severely beautiful 
features. She was always Homer's Juno, or, better still, 
the strong woman who would not laugh until the Last Day. 
The marshal finally arrived in a state of perspiration 
which bore witness to politeness; he sat down all out of 
breath, and, holding his handkerchief to wipe his forehead, 
he took care to moisten it with saliva, so as to remove the 
dust more thoroughly that covered his face. This rather 
military freedom tallied badly with his wife's starched de- 
portment; she was visibly put out by it. Finding myself 
superfluous in this mute scene I rose, intending to take my 
leave, but I was asked to stay to luncheon. While the table 
was being laid we took a walk in the park. There was not 
a road laid out, the lawns were grown with high grass all 
ready to become haystacks, the trees clipped during the 
Revolution were sprouting like thickets ; at every bush I left 
a piece of my flounces, and my lilac laced boots had taken 
a greenish hue. The marshal urged us on with voice and 
gesture, promising us a delightful surprise ! What was not 
my disappointment when, turning a clump of young oaks, 
we found ourselves facing three small wicker huts ! The 
duke went down on the ground on one knee, and exclaimed : 



144 MEMOIRS OF THE 

"Ah, here they are! Here they are!" 

Upon which, modulating his voice : 

' ' Peep — peep — peep ! " 

Immediately a flock of partridges fluttered about the mar- 
shal's head. 

"Do not let the others out until the youngest have gone 
in again, and give these ladies some bread. They will enjoy 
themselves like queens," said he to the yokel who performed 
the duties of gamekeeper. 

And there we were, in the scorching sun, feeding part- 
ridges ! 

With imperturbable dignity the duchess emptied the 
basket handed to her. As for me, I nearly fainted, and, the 
thing becoming too much for me, remarked that the sky 
was overcast and that we were threatened with a storm. 

Returning to the castle, I saw some masons whitewash- 
ing one of the turrets, -which up to then had escaped the 
sacrilege of renovation, and had worn the rust that time 
alone can give. 

I could not keep a sort of criticism from the marshal. 
His wife understood me; I even thought to discern in her 
look and her disdainful smile a previous discussion on the 
subject of the turret. The husband did not disguise the 
fact from me that my observations were not to his taste. 
He even launched out very energetically against the mania 
of old walls. 

Luncheon over, I slipped away in full haste, vowing, 
though a little late, never to be caught again. 

On the way I meditated on all I had seen, and concluded 
to myself that the lovely land of France offered singular 
contrasts, that the great lords of other days were absurdly 
ignorant, and that the heroes of the day, after paying for 
their riches with their blood, employed it in a mean and 
paltry fashion. 

I described my visit in few words to him who had ad- 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 145 

vised me not to miss it. About a fortnight back he had left 
off coming to see me ; he wrote to me that, his chest ailing, 
he had been forbidden to go out. Meanwhile I often met 
his mother; she did not appear to me to be anxious. 

After a time he said he was better, and informed me that 
the doctor had allowed him to take the air, on condition of 
his going home before sundown. It was telling me enough 
to let me guess he would come in the morning. I waited 
for him, and confess that for the first time I conceived some 
doubts as to the rectitude of his conduct regarding myself. 
I imagined that, appearing sick and sad, he wanted to begin 
by disarming my pride, and I put myself on my guard. 
At three o'clock a cabriolet stopped at the door, and a 
horse's tread I never mistook for another made my heart 
beat. 

We were at the end of May, but there was such a nipping 
cold that I had had a fire lit; wanting to assume counte- 
nance, I began to poke the fire. He pushed up an arm- 
chair, and sat near me without breaking the silence. I 
raised my eyes, and was painfully moved by the change 
this brief illness had wrought. Nevertheless, I was hard 
enough to say to him : 

"So you have been really ill ?" 

"No," said he, "not very, and now I am well." 

These few words, spoken in a faint voice, at once made 
the pyramid of distrust and severity crumble, which I had 
arduously erected. 

"Pardon!" I said; "pardon! Forget that silly question. 
Answer my sincere interest, my lively friendship; forget 
that stupid nonsensical question. I beg you, tell me about 
yourself! What is the matter with you?" 

"Nothing, truly. I have been suffering, but it is over. 
Each time that I undergo a vivid emotion I spit blood ; that 
is all." And he sat quite still, looking at the fire. 

"You have not doubted my interest, I hope," I resumed. 



146 MEMOIRS OF THE 

"I have thought of you more than you suppose." And I 
felt myself blush, and, with an involuntary movement, cov- 
ered my face with my hands. 

''Ah ! do not tell me that !" he cried ; "do not talk to me 
like that ! Treat me like an old friend always ; it was only 
on that understanding you accepted me." 

I knew not what to think; I was painfully affected, and 
lost myself in conjecture. 

Apparently wishing to break off an interview equally 
troublesome to both, he took out his watch and showed me 
how the hand was jumping from three to four o'clock. 

"Look," said he, "look how fast it is going! And yet it 
is thus that life goes; those who suft'er ought to take pa- 
tience. I have promised my mother to return at the hour 
prescribed by the doctor. She even wanted to prevent me 
from going out, because of the cold, but that was expecting 
too much of my common sense. I have more than I am 
credited with, but not enough to take care of myself." 

He took my hand, pressed it to his heart, and got up 
abruptly, without giving me time to speak. Arrived at the 
door, he said to me: 

"Be good, come to luncheon to-morrow at my mother's; 
we shall have Labedoyere, who is off to Spain. He very~ 
much wishes to see you ; grant him the favour ; he is worthy 
of it, I assure you." 

I nodded, and he went, leaving me in a vague state of 
sadness, the reason of which I could not explain to myself. 
Nothing was changed in our relations ; I had heard nothing 
to afflict me. Two months nearly had thus elapsed between 
intellectual pleasures and the charm of an affection shrouded 
in mystery, which coloured the least actions of my life. 
But the prism once broken! That short space of time, 
which remained in my memory as the happiest of my long 
career, why did it not last? Alack! I had dark presenti- 
ments, and something told me the drama was about to begin. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 147 

Thenceforth, I admit, society lost its chief attractions 
for me. 

Propriety, however, requiring that I should not in any 
way change my mode of life without a plausible motive, 
I continued to go into society ; I imposed pleasures and par- 
ties on myself by force; I tried to stupefy myself. 

The next day I went to the luncheon. I saw the young 
Labedoyere, so handsome, so brave, so happy! 

M. de F proved much less gloomy than the day be- 
fore. I even noticed him to affect, in the presence of his 
mother and his friend, a joviality not natural to him, and 
I gathered from it that he had kept his secret. As he was 
coughing, his mother scolded him for going out the day 
before. 

"Alas!" said he, "I am punished more than enough, for 
the doctor has condemned me to a week's confinement. 
But as soon as I am allowed to go out I shall take our 
illustrious travellers to Malmaison." 

He designated the Duchess of Courland and myself by 
this pompous name. The duchess was the widow of the 
last duke, and had been dispossessed at her husband's death. 
Russia left her the title and the immense fortune which the 
duke had secured his wife by the marriage contract. She 
had come to Warsaw, I hardly know on what grounds, 
and had been magnificently welcomed by Stanislaus Augus- 
tus, then king. The duchess took me into her heart for the 
sake of the prince who had met her so gallantly; I often 
accompanied her to court and to official ceremonials. What 
fascinated me was that her carriage went in without stand- 
ing in the line. At the period I mention the duchess was 
in her decline, but she kept remnants of beauty which 
assured her belated conquests. Her princely fortune per- 
mitted her to keep house on a grand scale; everybody 
solicited the favour of admission. M. de Talleyrand, who 
was not insensible to the charms of this woman, had placed 



148 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

her in the first rank of Madame de Laval's intimates, and 
in this circle one was supposed to admire everything the 
duchess did — above all, her tasteful dresses and her dia- 
monds were admired. I have more than once seen her ar- 
rive at midnight; she came to show off her ball dress or 
some new jewelry, just as a woman of twenty might 
have done. Her old adorer always waited for her, and eyed 
her with a fervour to make his whole seraglio die of jeal- 
ousy, my Aunt Tyszkiewicz being one of them. 




' A 



M. Labedoyere. 

From a rare print. 



CHAPTER VII 
ROUND ABOUT PARIS 

THE COUNTESS MNISZECH THE PANORAMA ARCADE THE 

QUEEN OF POLAND VISITS TO THE PAINTERS' STUDIOS 

THE ABBE MORELLET MADEMOISELLE LENORMAND 

MADAME DE SOUZA AND THE LITTLE SORCERESS THE 

PYTHONESS AN EVENTFUL YOUTH PROPHECY OF THE 

BIRTH OF COUNT MAURICE POTOCKI. 

I HAD another aunt in Paris, Countess Mniszech, cousin- 
german to my mother, and a niece of our last king. She 
took up a great deal of my time. A good soul, but rather 
stupid and absurdly vain, she believed herself entitled to the 
prerogatives of princesses of the blood, and in this connec- 
tion she had many unpleasant experiences. Neither the sad 
end of the last Polish king nor the dismemberment of our 
unhappy country had been able to cure her pretentiousness. 
The Empress of Russia, at the period when she lavished 
honours upon the Poles, had sent her the order of Saint 
Catherine. My aunt exhibited the medal on all great occa- 
sions, to such good effect that in Vienna she had been nick- 
named Countess Medal. She was not in the least aware of 
how ridiculous she made herself. All she thought of was 
to uphold the dignity of her name by display. In Paris she 
had in her service the house steward of the unfortunate 

149 



150 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Princess de Lamballe. Her secretary, M. de Ville, hap- 
pened to be a has been whose quarterings, as incontestable 
as they were unknown, she thought lent a great deal of 
lustre to her establishment. She gave grand suppers, very 
tedious and splendid, to which she invited insignificant no- 
blemen and obscure men of letters. So people made their 
escape as soon as civility permitted. She did not like that 
at all, because she thought it her duty to make her guests 
talk. Not knowing precisely how to go about attaining her 
object, she devised the plan of not having the tablecloth 
removed. 

'The liveliest conversations," said she, "are held over a 
round table." 

She had spent two years in France, and was thinking of 
departure; therefore before leaving the country of her pre- 
dilection she wished to inspect everything that was pointed 
out to her as worth seeing. 

The Panorama Arcade had recently been opened. It was 
fashionable to go shopping there. My aunt took her daugh- 
ters; the youngest and cleverest of the Prince de Ligne's 
girls, Princess Flora, accompanied us. Our retinue was 
magnificent and numerous. We had two footmen, in scar- 
let livery, gold-laced on every seam, a negro, and a chasseur. 
People stood still in the street to see us pass. 

The noble secretary followed in a small brougham, armed 
with a well-stuffed purse. When we had set foot on the 
ground we were surrounded by a swarm of street boys; at 
every shop we stopped at the crowd grew denser ; they even 
climbed the balustrades to get a better view of us. My poor 
aunt, electrified by the effect she supposed she was produc- 
ing, redoubled her extravagance, had the newest and most 
expensive things put aside, instructing M. de Ville very 
loudly not to bargain, this plebeian custom being odious to 
her. Turning to the Princess Flora, as well as to myself 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 151 

and her daughters, she besought us to choose whatever we 
liked, and overwhelmed us with presents. 

Less would have been enough to excite the curiosity of 
the common herd; soon the street urchins gave way to the 
Parisian idlers, who roam about incessantly, in order to 
let nothing escape them that may be related in a newspaper. 

Without calculating the effect of a thoughtless word, it 
occurred to Princess Flora to say to some one staring over 
her shoulder : 

"Do you know who that lady is? She is the Queen of 
Poland" 

At once this sentence spread from mouth to mouth; peo- 
ple jumped over the shop counter ; we were mobbed, we were 
jostled, we were smothered; the confusion became inde- 
scribable and retreat impossible. Very luckily an honest 
tradesman, perceiving the uselessness of our servants' efforts 
to break a passage for us, opened a little secret door and 
thus gave us the possibility of flight. And my aunt, igno- 
rant of Princess Flora's trick, went on repeating that some 
people could not shozv themselves in public with impunity. 

Having once decided to see everything, we went through 
all the studios. The painters of interiors pleased me greatly. 
The details of their pictures were most graceful; but my 
father-in-law had taught me to admire none but the Italian 
school, and I was surprised that, with the finest models be- 
fore them, the painters of the French school had made so 
little progress, or, rather, had made none at all. Nothing 
great, nothing noble was evident in the productions of the 
day. The young painters, to be sure, had fewer manner- 
isms than the Bouchers and the Vanloos, but they aimed 
neither at the exactness of Lesueur nor at the boldness of 
Poussin, nor at the colouring of Lebrun. You might have 
thought genius had gone out of fashion! The modern 
school affected a kind of scorn for these great masters. 



152 MEMOIRS OF THE 

David only proved himself a classic; however, his cadaver- 
ous colouring offset the correctness of the drawing; his 
pictures looked like bas-reliefs. The picture which, to my 
mind, will bestow immortality on David is that historical 
portrait of Napoleon ascending Mount Saint Bernard at the 
head of his anny, which is seen in the defiles. He sits com- 
posed on a restive horse. 

Girodet should have died after finishing his Dido; none 
of his works equals this little painting, ^neas, it is true, 
is rather wooden; he lacks animation; but you hardly look 
at him, so attractive is the group of two women. 

Gerard has done some fine portraits; he excels in this 
line. But he lets himself be drawn into the painting of too 
many details; he defers too obligingly to the taste of the 
day, and paints cashmere shawls and transparent stockings 
too scrupulously. The richly embroidered lace trimmed 
court dresses, the corkscrew curls, the short waists, will 
make his works pass out of fashion. A clever painter must 
see to it that his portraits are paintings. 

I was much astonished to find these gentlemen's studios 
heaped with canvases begun, knowing the enormous prices 
the painters of that period asked for their works. They 
were nearly always sketches from life, representing the im- 
perial family or rich foreigners; the French did not permit 
themselves this expensive fancy. 

Young women who recount their travels nearly all feel 
obliged to devote a chapter or two of profound thoughts to 
the progress of civilisation, to the sciences, etc. The greater 
part of these dissertations are extracted from a forgotten 
book, or they are gone over by some scholar, some friend. 
Sometimes one of the obscure writers is applied to, who 
provides copy at so much a page. As for myself, having 
resolved upon frankness in the strictest sense of the word, 
I must acknowledge that I did not seek the aid of men of 
letters. To estimate them at their right value it is enough 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 153 

to judge them by what they furnish to the pubHc. A single 
visit always seemed to me both useless and out of place. 
One should not go to a scholar as if he were a curiosity. 
This superficial way of arriving at a conclusion almost al- 
ways has stupid conceit for its motive. Having returned 
home the person writes : 

"Mr, So-and-So, well known through his distinguished 
works, received me most charmingly. We talked for more 
than an hour. He was astonished at the facility with which 
I expressed myself in his language, and advised me to 
write my memoirs. He is a man of unusual parts ; he has 
plenty of wit and learning, etc. ; and, in a word, he is one 
of those scholars you see only in France, and among the 
French, while elsewhere," etc., etc. 

What took me aback was to see the celebrities of the day 
so rarely in society. Under a levelling king like Napoleon, 
who wanted every kind of merit to be honoured, it ought to 
have been commoner to meet artists and literary men in 
the saloons. 

At Madame de Souza's I never saw but the Abbe Mo- 
rellet. It was he, I think, who in the Revolution of 1789 
saved himself from the lamp-post by a joke: Will it make 
you see any better? Already far advanced in years, he 
talked little, and only came to dine to satisfy a furious 
appetite. After dinner he took a nap. He snored for a 
good hour, and ended by waking himself up. I was then 
asked to take him to his door. I accepted the mission the 
more gladly as he lived near me. We habitually observed 
complete silence, but at the moment when my lackey threw 
back the curtain before the door the Abbe thought himself 
obliged to pay me a compliment, and, already on the car- 
riage step, he turned round and said, in his nasal voice : 

"I thank you, most amiable and lovely lady!" And I 
bade him good-night. 

At these dinners, where we merrily talked about every- 



154 MEMOIRS OF THE 

thing, some one happened to mention Mile. Lenormand in 
connection with the prophecy she had made the Empress 
Josephine, a prophecy half of which was already fulfilled. 

I manifested an eager desire to see this famous sooth- 
sayer, but my friends discouraged me by saying that her 
oracles were measured by the fee promised, and that the 
future, thus evaluated, was for sale at from twelve to thirty- 
six francs. Illusion could not withstand such a reality. 

Mme. de Souza, who did not deny being very supersti- 
tious, told us she knew a fortune-teller much superior to 
Mile. Lenormand, She had predicted wonderful things for 
her, she said. "If I were not afraid to repeat them," added 
Mme. de Souza, "you would be greatly surprised at them, 
for they are so improbable!" 

One of the guests hazarded the question whether this 
fortune-teller had not announced the fall of the empire. 
Mme. de Souza only shook her head and said nothing. To 
cut short these indiscreet questions, she proposed to take 
me to the sorceress. I accepted the invitation eagerly, and 
the next day but one we put our plan into execution. We 
went on foot, at dusk, well bundled up and disguised. My 
guide went first, with great intrepidity, up four horribly 
steep flights of stairs. I followed rather timidly. 

Hearing the noise we made, a youngish little woman 
came out to ask us what we wanted. 

"It is I," said my companion; "I am bringing one of my 
relations, just come from the country, who desires to know 
what fate awaits her in Paris." 

The little woman seemed to reflect. Not remembering 
Mme. de Souza, she excused herself, 

"So many people come to me," she said, "that it is no 
wonder if I mistake faces; the more so as, no one wishing 
to give a name, there is nothing to aid my memory." 

Delighted with this discreet beginning, we told her that 



p^ 




TXT'^x^^^srtr 



'1: 




L'Abbe Andre Morellet. 

Fro7n an engraving by IMassol of the portrait. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 155 

she had a right to forget the past, since she had the gift of 
looking into the future. This compHment did not seem to 
flatter her ; I even beheve she did not understand it, because 
her mind and speech were very simple. 

In order to give me courage, my companion was the first 
to sit down at the magic table, and ask for the cards rather 
than the coffee strainer. I do not know why the little sor- 
ceress was interested in surveying the past instead of at- 
tending to the future. I have learnt since that Mme. de 
Souza had had an eventful youth; she was most seductive, 
and had not always been cold to the admiration her clever- 
ness had brought her. The past was becoming shady; in- 
discreet revelations had to be stopped. 

"You only have one son, and this son, whom you love 
tenderly, has just been in great danger," said the fortune- 
teller to my companion. 

The poor mother could not restrain a cry of anguish. 
"Be comforted," added the woman ; "he is safe ! One might 
call it a miracle of Heaven! His is indeed a lucky star. 
T can tell you that the danger to which he was just now 
exposed was of no human doing. He fought against the 
elements. I cannot say whether it was fire or water; my 
cards say nothing positive enough about it; but do not 
be disturbed; you will learn all the details of the adventure 
from a widow among your friends, and your son was not 
alone in danger." 

We looked at one another in silence. Not wishing to 
know any more, my companion obliged me to take her place. 
I cannot boast of not being frightened, but my mind was 
made up, and being decided upon shrinking from nothing, 
I asked for the cards and the strainer, while telling myself 
I should have to admit this infraction of the laws of the 
church to my confessor. 

My past had so little in it ! A quiet, pleasant life, duties 



156 MEMOIRS OF THE 

and affections over which the storm had thundered without, 
as yet, doing any harm. My two sweet children were in 
the front of this family picture. I had made it a condition 
that I was not to be told how long the beings that were dear 
to me were to live. After pondering a long time, and com- 
bining the cards with the strainer, the little sorceress as- 
sured me that my children's lot would be like my own. But 
I thought I perceived a sign of hesitation in her words, and 
that frightened me. Great temerity is needed not to be 
afraid to lift the kindly veil which conceals the future from 
us ! Alas ! it was proved to me but too well how much I 
ought to fear the future ! 

The woman probably noticed the distress I was in, for 
she said: 

"Let us not speak of the children you have. Their des- 
tiny, I repeat, is not in any way extraordinary, but when 
you return to your country you will give birth to a son who 
will be heard from. I do not know exactly where you 
come from, or what your country is ; but you certainly come 
from a place where peace never reigns, and I see wars and 
blood in my cards. Very well ! This son, who will come 
into the world under the luckiest of constellations, will be= 
come the chief of a powerful party; perhaps he will even 
be king." 

I laughed, and looked at Mme. de Souza, imagining she 
had prepared this mystification, and dictated all these fool- 
ish things. But she swore that she had not set foot in this 
house for over a year. The little woman, perceiving my 
suspicions, seemed sensitive to them, and, in order to lay 
more stress on her prophecies, she offered supposititious 
proofs by means of which I might have certainty as to their 
veracity. 

"And," she continued, "I can assure you that this son 
will be endowed with what we call the love of men. In all 




Mlle. Lenormand, the Soothsayer. 

Fro;n a li.lLograJ>h of the drawing by Champagne. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 157 

places, and at any age, he will be loved by old and young, 
poor and rich, by men almost as much as by women. His 
success will be irresistible, and will result chiefly from his 
good character." 

These words remained graven in my memory, and I can 
state that the predictions were all realised. 

When I left Paris I did not give this prophecy another 
thought. I had other joys and other sorrows. It was only 
at the moment my son came into the world that everything 
the little woman had said came back to my mind. 



CHAPTER VIII 
MALMAISON— THE AVOWAL 

JOSEPHINE napoleon's BEDCHAMBER JOSEPHINe's 

TASTE THE PICTURE GALLERY THE GARDENS AND THE 

HOTHOUSES THE EMPEROR's INVITATION CONVERSA- 
TION WITH THE EMPEROR NOTE FROM CHARLES DE 

F T EXPLANATION AN OFFICER'S ROMANCE. 

A FEW days after this expedition we went to see Malmai- 
son. Josephine had just gone to Switzerland. The em- 
peror having paid numerous visits to the ex-empress, Marie- 
Louise took umbrage at it, and it was decided that Jose- 
phine should take herself off at once. I had wished to be 
presented to her, but she never received strangers; she"" 
showed herself to none but those who, by constant devotion, 
had made themselves worthy of her confidence and affection. 
That poor heart was shrinking into itself. Josephine was 
seeking solitude as much as she had loved the world. At 
Malmaison, at least, she was not persecuted by idle inquisi- 
liveness; it was said she wept a great deal, and did not 
attempt to conceal her grief. Deeply attached to him, it 
was Napoleon she regretted far more sorrowfully than the 
brilliant position she had quitted. 

Malmaison was shown us from roof to cellar. With 
what interest and eager curiosity we surveyed the spot, the 

158 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 159 

witness of such great events. So much love and so much 
fame! Fabulous tales, innumerable triumphs, unparalleled 
intoxications! All that drama of the hero's life unfolded 
itself there for ten years, and these still vibrant memories 
imparted to the present, as it were, the reflection of the past. 

Napoleon's bedchamber, where, as first consul, he had 
already mused upon a world-empire, and where, yet later, 
as absolute monarch, his senses lulled by fame, he came 
for rest, is at this moment in the same state as when he left 
it, never to return. Josephine had prohibited the door to 
the curious. It was only by force of gold and insistence 
that we were shown the room. 

If ever a sacrilegious fashion dared to change the furni- 
ture of this room it would be a crime which posterity would 
have the right to lay at the door of the nation which did 
not prevent it. Malmaison ought to become a national 
possession. 

And apart from the interest always attaching to the small- 
est details of a great man's life, this room is of itself one 
of the finest to be seen. The carved bedstead is of ancient 
form, simple and irreproachable; it stands on a platform 
covered with a tiger-skin of the greatest beauty. A spa- 
cious tent, supplying the place of curtains, is held up by 
trophies of arms which all recall a victory or signify a con- 
quest. They are neither vain military trappings nor rich 
ornaments ; they form a sort of talking chronicle, which tells 
the high deeds of the soldier as well as the fame of the war- 
rior whose booty they were. 

Everything that speaks to the imagination unconsciously 
inspires respect and reverence. While we were occupied 
in examining every detail of this once historical room, the 
silence was only interrupted by the custodian's voice, to 
whom we from time to time addressed questions. 

About Josephine's room there was nothing noticeable but 



l6o MEMOIRS OF THE 

the little taste and harmony exhibited. The furniture is of 
all colours and all styles; it is an agglomeration of gew- 
gaws, in which neither elegant simplicity nor artistic predi- 
lection is discoverable — no reminiscences; it is all yester- 
day's. Fashion, so mighty in Paris, here reigns supreme. 

Only the picture gallery is beyond criticism. It is easily 
perceived that an artist gifted with taste and judgment had 
its supervision. The Flemish school there is by far supe- 
rior to the Italian. Not wishing to enter upon one of those 
minute descriptions which always weary the ignorant and 
never satisfy the expert, I will confine myself to the obser- 
vation that this gallery includes pictures by Claude Lorrain 
of the greatest beauty, a splendid Ruysdael, several Paul 
Potters, and a number of delightful Wouvermans. 

As for the architecture of the house, it is not only defec- 
tive, but vulgar. A squashed, low, detached building, under 
a mansard roof; narrow little windows, mean doors, a few 
heavy decorations — in a word, paltriness without simplicity 
and pretentiousness without largeness. 

The garden and notably the hothouses are admirable. 
There are so many rare plants from all parts of the world 
that it is easy to imagine one's self in the tropics. 

If the huge cost is approximately evaluated of the estab~- 
lishment and maintenance of these gardens, no doubt is left 
of Josephine's preference for plants and flowers among all 
the luxuries she surrounded herself with for ten years. 
Culture and dress were not neglected, but the empress's real 
passion was the love of her park and hothouses. How 
much this daintily adorned retreat must have added to the 
splendour of the festivities and to the romantic love-affairs 
of a brilliant court ! 

Returned home, I found an invitation which both sur- 
prised and flattered me. It was a letter from the chamber- 
lain on duty, who informed me I had been nominated to 







2; § 

o ~ 

M 5 






COUNTESS POTOCKA i6l 

the honour of dining with Their Majesties that same day, 
at six o'clock; it was then ten. Nothing was rarer than 
such condescension, especially toward a stranger. Since 
his marriage the emperor followed the old etiquette of the 
French court, and only dined in the family circle. I prom- 
ised myself faithfully not to allow my regrets to pass unob- 
served. Very luckily, the ball given by the minister of 
war would offer me the opportunity of explaining. I hoped 
that Napoleon, as was his wont, would deign to say a few 
words to me. So I took care to go to this party early, in 
order to get a good place. Wanting to make certain of 
attracting the emperor's attention, I took the precaution to 
put on all my diamonds, and to dress more showily than I 
had been in the habit of doing up to then — ^perhaps to make 
myself conspicuous. As I had foreseen, the emperor, hav- 
ing noticed me, took my direction, pretending a pout, 

^'Ah! Madame la Comtesse," he said, "no doubt you got 
home very late yesterday; we had hoped to see you, and 
your place remained empty!" 

Encouraged by this gracious reception, I tried to express 
the regret I had experienced in opening the letter which 
apprised me of everything I had lost by my absence. As 
he listened to me with a smile, I added that it would have 
been better if I had not come to Paris. 

He let me talk, was amused at my disappointment, and 
ended in consoling me by saying, with charming good-hu- 
mour, that I ought to know the old proverb: adjourned is 
not forgotten, and that another time it would be thought of 
in season. 

This interview, which was long enough to arouse jeal- 
ousy, gave rise to the most misplaced suggestions. More 
than one woman envied what she called my position, and 
many plotted in secret to gain the favour they pretended to 
despise. 



1 62 MEMOIRS OF THE 

During the next few days I received a number of visits; 
several persons who had never thought of doing me this 
civihty came to leave their cards, and I told myself that in 
what was vile all courts were alike, the most modern and 
the most ancient. How far they were from suspecting what 
was occupying my mind ! Once I had left the ball, I did not 
bestow another thought on this little triumph of vanity. 

After his recovery Charles did not come to see me so 
often; he selected hours when I received indifferent peo- 
ple, being certain of not finding me alone. He never- 
theless kept minutely informed of my doings; he had not 
left off directing my sightseeing. Here is the note he 
wrote me two days after the splendid Guards' ball, recorded 
by all the newspapers of the time : 

"What were you doing last night? I had hoped to meet 

you at the Duchess de L 's. You were going there; 

why did you not come ? Fearing it might be too late, I did 
not venture to call upon you, or, if I may be frank, dread- 
ing to find you alone, I refrained. Will you allow me to 
escort you to-morrow morning to Gerard's? Everybody 
goes there to see Madame Walewska's portrait. It is only 
under such conditions that I want to meet you. However 
singular I may seem to you, withdraw neither your confi- 
dence nor your friendship from me. Bear with me and pity 
me. Could you guess how unhappy I am, you would un- 
derstand that I am more than ever in need of your indulgent 
friendship and that I am worthy of your esteem." 

There are moments in life when a word determines the 
future. These few lines brought on an explanation which 
both of us shrank from and avoided. 

If M. de F had continued as attentive as in the past ; 

if he had sought out every occasion to see me alone; if, in 
fact, I had thought suspicion of his schemes necessary, I 
should have been on my guard against him and myself. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 163 

But this persistence in shunning me, this unconquerable 
melancholy of whose cause I was ignorant, the mystery in 
which his feelings were enshrouded, and, more than any- 
thing, the prudence that guided all his actions, disturbed me 
still more than his past assiduities had. For the first time 
I dared to discover that I loved him, and I let him guess 
it, I cannot possibly remember the words I used, but ap- 
parently there was such an accent of truth in my answer, 
such poignant regret at having perhaps said too much, that 
Charles could not mistake my feelings, and the perfect 
knowledge he had of the straightforwardness of my charac- 
ter did me better service than all the arts of a coquette could 
have mustered for the occasion. In half an hour's time the 
following note reached me : 

"Why have you written? You have succeeded in making 
me the most luihappy of men ! I must positively speak with 
you; receive me alone this evening." 

I was dumfounded. The thought of his happiness only 
had momentarily carried the day over the strictness of my 
principles, and over the firm resolve I had taken never to 
fail in my duty. At learning the futility of so great a 
sacrifice a deep despondency overtook me. 

When, that evening, Charles sent in his name, he found 
me on the spot where I had read his answer, absorbed in 
meditation to the point of frightening him by my immo- 
bility. Sitting at my desk, I had mechanically taken up a 
penknife, and, without thinking, was cutting my glove. A 
little drop of blood brought me back from my dream, and 
struck terror into that heart so familiar with danger. 

"What are 3^ou doing?" he cried, snatching the penknife 
from me. "Listen to me, for mercy's sake. Have pity on 
the state I am in. The time has come when honour imposes 
the cruel duty upon me of concealing nothing further from 
you. When I saw you in Poland I loved you with fervour 



l64 MEMOIRS OF THE 

and devotion. Up till then I had been very light ; to you it 
was reserved to bring about an entire change in me. I was 
often surprised at the sort of religion with which you in- 
spired me, who know so little diffidence with women, and — 
I dared not let you divine my love ! You were surrounded 
with such a halo of purity and innocence, I saw you so 
wrapped up in your child and so faithful to your obliga- 
tions, that it seemed impossible, and so to speak criminal, 
to attempt to turn you away from the right path ; moreover, 
you showed me such natural kindliness, such a confiding 
interest, that I went away persuaded my love had not even 
been suspected. In the presence of your husband I asked per- 
mission to write to you, and it was granted, for news from 
headquarters was welcome. A single word in one of your 
letters gave birth to a little hope in my heart! A woman 
had been mentioned who, so rumour said, had followed me 
to Germany; I thought to have observed that the absurd 
fiction had got to yourself; I even ventured to suppose you 
had been angered by it, and I so sincerely wished to explain 
matters that I applied to Marshal Davout for leave to go to 
Warsaw. If the leave was refused, I was determined to go 
secretly; but it was your sanction that I awaited. AlasJ 
you must remember the bantering tone of your reply, and so 
I begged permission to return to France. Prince Murat 
did not forgive me for having left his staff, and for more 
than a year I was forgotten in a small German garrison. 
My mother wrote often, and comforted me as best she could ; 
she repeated in all her letters that I must be patient, that a 
person whose good name was well established, and who 
loved me without my suspecting it, was taking steps to have 
me recalled. I actually, at last, received the order, or, more 
properly speaking, the permission to go back, signed by the 
emperor's own hand. My mind was made up to forget 
you, but being always haunted by your face, I involun- 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 165 

tarily compared you with all the women I knew; your na- 
ture, your fascinating blitheness, that effusion so peculiar 
to Poles, and which particularly in yourself had seemed 
so entrancing, rendered the French women affected in my 
eyes and lacking in the individuality which multiplies the 
poAver to please and to conquer. One of them, however, and 
the only one whose name was to be kept from you forever, 
touched my heart while trying to conceal the passion I had 
evoked. It was of her that my mother spoke in all her 
letters. Not at all pretty, she believed herself condemned 
never to be loved, and did not even dare try to please ; her 
steadfast and generous attachment was hidden from all eyes 
under the pretence of a purely fraternal liking. 

"My dealings with her brother, who was my best friend, 
gave me opportunity to see her constantly. I watched her 
long before paying her back. She instilled neither the ad- 
miration which others had made me know at my entrance 
to society nor the exalted love that you alone had poured 
into my heart. I ended by loving her, for I had a thousand 
proofs of her devotion. The more I valued her, the un- 
worthier it seemed to me to thwart her expectation. 'Yes,' 
she said, in her gentle voice, 'but if you could still love an- 
other woman, love as you loved in Poland, I feel I should 
die.' These few words made me sacrifice my liberty to her. 
For two years I consecrated my efforts to her happiness, 
and imagined I was happy myself at seeing with what grati- 
tude she accepted my earnest affection. Your presence sud- 
denly destroyed every illusion; the sight of you gave me 
back the strong emotions I believed destroyed forever. I 
felt myself reborn to hope, to joy; the absence of my friend, 
who had left a few days before your arrival, delivered me 
defenceless to the powerful temptation I was undergoing. 
But when I foresaw that you might be touched by so much 
love, and when I had seriously reviewed my position and 



1 66 MEMOIRS OF THE 

my conduct, the stern voice of honour made itself heard; 
I understood that my duty was to flee you ! I have suffered 
and struggled much; above all, I wished you might pre- 
serve me your esteem. I know you too well, I rate you 
too highly, to venture to offer you a heart linked by duty 
to another life. 

"You are so fit to be the sole object of my adoration 
that you can see another woman claim her share of my love 
without anger. If in Poland I had dared to hope that some 
day you might love me I would have forsaken all — my 
mother, my country, my friends. Your country would have 
become mine; I would have defended and served it with 
that enthusiasm which you only, a Pole, know how to in- 
spire. I saw you besieged by admirers; you were equally 
amiable to them all; never did you encourage me to make 
an avowal. Now I have told you everything; I have done 
my duty. I have not deceived you by abusing your touch- 
ing and generous confidence. Do not ask more! Beware 
of me and of my love. It is possible that, to be very sure 
of conquering, I ought to renounce the perilous felicity of 
constantly meeting you ! But you have good sense enough 
for both; how should I find the courage to leave you when 
I think that perhaps fate will separate us forever? You 
will go back to your country, and I shall try to be killed on 
the first occasion that presents itself. Now you know," 
he added with a melancholy smile, "that the emperor does 
not spare us on those occasions. How, then, should I de- 
prive myself of the sad pleasure which I still can relish for 
a little while ? One condemned to death has in every coun- 
try the right to dispose of his last moments.'' 

I had listened to him in silence; it was late, and for the 
first time I saw him going without repining. My heart was 
ready to break ! A torrent of tears at last gave me solace. 
As soon as I was able to reflect, I sounded the abyss on 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 167 

whose edge I had been walking. In rendering acknowledg- 
ment to the scrupulous delicacy of him who had sustained 
me at the moment when I perhaps might have failed, I un- 
derstood the whole extent of the danger I had escaped. 
Nevertheless, esteem and admiration enhanced a passion I 
could not exclude, and which for a long time after domi- 
nated all others. The picture of that mysterious woman, 
whom I always saw between him and me, was hateful to 
me ! I decked her out in all the charms she perhaps did not 
own, and I was unable to admit that she might envy my 
lot, for, upon the whole, the most beloved was necessarily 
the least unhappy. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE DINNER AT SAINT-CLOUD 

INVITATION TO SAINT-CLOUD MADAME DE MONTEBELLO 

MARIE-LOUISE DRIVE IN THE PARK THE EMPEROr's 

BILL OF FARE PRINCE EUGENE THE KING OF HOL- 
LAND'S ABDICATION MARIE-LOUISE COAXES HER HUS- 
BAND RUMOURS OF WAR WITH RUSSIA TALMA 

LUNCHEON AT M. DE TALLEYRAND's FAREWELL TO 

CHARLES DE F T — DEPARTURE. 

Had I followed my first impulse I should have left Paris 
on the spot, but I was delayed by the affair with which my 
husband's parents had entrusted me ; it was a case of claim- 
ing an indemnity promised by the emperor in consideration 
of the huge losses the Count and Countess Stanislaus Po- 
tocki had sustained during the quartering of the French 
army on their estates in 1807. 

Little given to solicitation of this kind, since I by nature 
felt repugnance towards any sort of transaction of which in- 
terest, however just, was the foundation, I had altogether 
neglected my mission, and it was only through remembering 
I was to render account of the result of my steps that I 
thought of it. 

There came a second invitation to Saint-Cloud, the day 
before the date appointed in the letter; it was impossible to 
decline, and, moreover, the curiosity attaching to all that 

168 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 169 

could throw light on the private life of the great man be- 
came one of the most salutary diversions for me. 

Court mourning was then being worn. I immediately 
sent to Madame Germont's, in order to have a dress appro- 
priate to the event. She answered my lady's maid that, the 
emperor not caring for black, mourning of this class was 
worn all in white, especially in the country; that the round 
dress and the fancy headdress were adopted when one had 
the honour of being admitted to Their Majesties' intimate 
circle, and that I should have everything I wanted by noon. 

At half past five I presented myself at the gate of Saint- 
Cloud. The sentinel making some difficulties about letting 
my carriage enter the court, the chamberlain on duty was 
kind enough to waive orders, and ushered me into the sa- 
loon. There I found the Duchess of Montebello, who, in 
her function of lady of the palace, did the honours rather 
coldly, as if to add to my embarrassment at meeting none 
of my acquaintances. It was her manner; she was so to 
every one, which did not prevent her having devoted friends 
and warm admirers, whom she owed as much to her beauty 

to the esteem she created in all who knew her. 

The empress came in at six o'clock punctually, accom- 
panied by her lady of the bedchamber, a has been whose 
name I forget. She was said to be fully versed in the cere- 
monial practised at the court of Louis XVI., a very choice 
merit at this season, because of the young sovereign. 

Marie-Louise, dressed very simply, was wearing a white 
dress, with a black ribbon border at the bottom ; this was the 
mourning which I have mentioned. Princess Borghese ar- 
rived a minute after, and also the emperor and the Duke of 
Wurtzburg, the empress' uncle, the same who had brought 
her to Paris. M. de Montalivet, Minister of the Interior, 
followed them. That was all ! There was neither retinue 
nor parade — we were in private. 



lyo MEMOIRS OF THE 

After speaking a few words to me, the emperor rang the 
bell and asked if the carriages were at the door. Upon 
the answer given him in the affirmative, he proposed a short 
drive in the park; he gave the empress his arm, and both 
got into a handsome calash to which, English fashion, six 
magnificent bays were harnessed, with three jockeys in green 
and gold livery. 

We followed in a sort of pretty little six-seated open 
basket carriage. The Duke of Wurtzburg looked to be 
somewhat ill at ease, and proffered only a few words to 
the Princess Borghese, with whom he was supposed to be 
in love ; he did not seem so the least bit in the world. 

The silence was not interrupted but by the lamentations 
and sighs of the three ladies, who without their hats were 
exposed to the dust and the rays of the sun. 

We thus, for a half hour, traversed all the avenues of 
the park, going at a fast trot the whole time. 

I noticed, at the turns of the roads, where the pace neces- 
sarily slackened, individuals who, petitions in hand, made 
ready to throw them into the emperor's calash at a sign 
from him. 

These drives were one of those fancies whose very slight 
agreeableness the emperor did not understand, and naturally^ 
no one dared to make the observation. When the calash- 
stopped the front box was littered with petitions. The 
chamberlain on duty was ordered to hand them over to the 
principal secretary. I have since learnt that every morning , 
Napoleon had an abstract of the petitions of the day before 
read him, and that himself dictated the answers. 

After the drive, dinner being served, the emperor mo- 
tioned to Marie-Louise to take her uncle's arm and to go 
into the dining-room; he followed them, and we entered 
also, excepting the lady of the bedchamber and the Duchess 




'JO -^ 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 171 

de Montebello, who to my great surprise passed into an- 
other room, where a table with thirty covers stood ready for 
the great officers, as well as the ladies on duty, to whom the 
Grand Marshal Duroc did the honours of the meal. While 
attending Their Majesties through the rooms, I saw Mar- 
shal Davout on duty that day as captain of the guard. I 
admit that it amused me to give him a casual little friendly 
nod, to pay him back for the royal airs he and his wife had 
^ut on in Poland. 

The emperor's table was in the shape of an oblong. The 
empress and her uncle, both dumb figures, occupied one of 
the sides. Napoleon, opposite them, was between two 
empty places. The Princess Borghese and myself were at 
one end of the rectangle, and M. de Montalivet at the other. 
The emperor thus habitually had dinner at the table of the 
minister with whom he had been at work in the morning, 
in order to continue the conversation on subjects which, 
though of lesser importance, were nevertheless connected 
with the day's task. 

We were at the close of the month of June; the sun was 
darting his rays through the foliage, but in spite of the 
brightness the candlesticks were all lit and the windows 
opened. This double daylight made a not at all pleasant 
result. It was a queer whim, was that. I was assured 
that the emperor never dined otherwise. A page stood be- 
hind his chair, a napkin in his hand ; this page attempted 
to present a plate, but Napoleon would not allow it; a table 
officer-in-waiting performed that function. 

The service proceeded with great rapidity. You would 
have said it was in the hands of sylphs, so deep was the 
silence. 

Napoleon was in the habit of eating fast and very little; 
the plainest dishes were those he preferred. About the 



172 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



middle of dinner a flat plate of peppered artichokes was 
offered the emperor : he laughed, and proposed to share his 
modest repast with us, eulogising this hermit's food highly. 
But as no one seemed tempted to partake of it, he ordered 
the plate to be put before him, and left not a scrap. 

On the other hand, the empress, much engrossed by the 
dishes offered her, did not refuse one, and appeared an- 
noyed at the rapidity with which they followed one another. 
Towards the end of the meal the emperor finally broke the 
silence, and, accosting M. de Montalivet, he questioned him 
as to the work undertaken at the palace of Versailles, the 
restoration of which had been begun. 

'T wish," said he, "to entertain the Parisians as in days 
gone by — the fountains must play every Sunday. But is it 
true that under Louis XVI. that amusement cost a hun- 
dred thousand francs each time?" 

Upon the minister's response in the affirmative. Napoleon 
exclaimed : 

"It is a great deal for going to see fountains. Well ! If 
I refuse the idlers of Paris this pleasure, who think more 
of amusement than of anything else, they will not under- 
stand that it is in order to make better use of such a large^ 
sum." 

While speaking of the gardens of the royal residence, and 
of their size, he made an eft'ort to recall the name of the 
famous Lenotre, who had laid them out. 

By a curious chance M. de Montalivet did not remember 
the name, and both were provoked without profit. 

I ventured to whisper it into Princess Borghese's ear, who 
repeated it aloud. 

"Ah !" said Napoleon, "that's not yours — not it ! I would 
wager you did not know Lenotre had ever existed — he did 
not die in your day!" 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 173 

Then he threw me a charming look. 

We were about to rise from table when the chamberlain 
came to apprise the emperor that the Viceroy of Italy was 
awaiting him in the gardens. He got up precipitately, with- 
out allowing Marie-Louise time to finish her ice, which so 
put her out that she could not desist from complaining of 
it to her uncle. Having returned to the drawing-room, 
whither the two ladies-in-w liting had preceded us, we found 
^he large windows open ; the view from them was down the 
chief avenue of the park. 

Prince Eugene was walking up and down there in ex- 
treme agitation; as soon as Napoleon caught sight of him 
he went to meet him. 

To judge by the vivacity of their conversation, their sub- 
ject must have been a most serious one. The emperor ges- 
ticulated like a true Corsican; the prince seemed to try to 
pacify him; it was easily seen that Napoleon was not 
pleased. The voices reached us sometimes, but the wind 
scattered the words. 

In the drawing-room the silence was only interrupted by 
some commonplaces which M. de Montalivet felt it incum- 
bent to address us with, so as not to appear to be listening 
to the conversation which was taking place outside. 

The empress proffered not a word; seated by her uncle, 
who encouraged her to absolute silence, she looked aimlessly 
out of the window, without paying the least attention to 
what was happening in the park, where the more and more 
heated conversation was still continuing. 

As everything eventually became public — above all, at 
the court, where so many eyes and ears are open to see and 
hear everything — we learnt soon after what the reason of 
the storm had been. 

The viceroy, commissioned by his brother, the King of 



174 



MEMOIRS OF THE 



Holland, to announce his resignation of the throne to the 
emperor, had carried through his delicate mission, and had 
probably attempted to make excuses for his brother-in-law. 

At last Napoleon entered the drawing-room ; his face was 
stern, but calm; he went straight to M. de Montalivet and 
notified him that the next day, at five o'clock in the morn- 
ing, he would repair to the Petit Trianon, and that arrange- 
ments were to be made for the young sovereign. Marie- 
Louise at once begged permission to be of the party, promis- 
ing not to keep any one waiting, and to be ready at the 
hour mentioned. 

The emperor declined, with kindness, alleging that, in 
the state she was in, every kind of exertion must be avoided. 
To lend weight to his refusal he consulted the Duchess of 
Montebello, who arrayed herself on his side. Marie-Louise, 
like a spoiled child, would still not take the refusal; she 
kept on insisting, stating that the doctor had ordered her 
to take exercise. While coaxing her husband in the hope 
of obtaining what she desired, she put her hand on his shoul- 
der ; this familiarity before others apparently displeased Na- 
poleon. Lie gently removed his young wife's hand, not 
without having pressed it affectionately. 

The emperor, having drawn me into the recess of a win- 
dow, asked me what news I was in receipt of from Poland, 
and whether it was true that Emperor Alexander threatened 
those of his subjects with confiscation who did not return 
under his flag. 

Having that morning received a letter from my father-in- 
law, I found occasion to confirm a fact which the emperor 
seemed inclined to doubt. I spoke of the necessity of has- 
tening my return. 

"Do not be alarmed," he said to me, with that gracious 
smile quite his own; "enjoy yourself, and do not think of 
packing up yet." 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 175 

It was thus that haphazard phrases forewarned us of the 
war with Russia, of which no one as yet ventured to speak, 
but which every one looked upon as inevitable, seeing the 
tremendous preparations, whose object, however, was not 
divulged. 

"What do you want me to bring you back from India?" 
one of the most conspicuous personages of the period 
asked me. 

'" "From Moscow or St. Petersburg?" answered I, with the 
aim of probing his thoughts. 

"Oh, we may possibly pass that way, but I imagine you 
would like some rarer booty. We have saluted the Pyra- 
mids; it would be the right thing now to go and see what 
our rivals beyond the sea are about." 

Everything I now record will some day look as if bor- 
rowed from the "Arabian Nights' Tales," and yet I have 
made it a law to myself to swerve from the strictest truth in 
nothing; but people were so used to wonders that the 
marvellous seemed possible, and the impossible practicable. 

I return to that day at Saint-Cloud, which takes up much 
room in my memory, and which concluded with a delightful 
performance. Talma played Manlius. It was truly the 
triumph of this admirable actor, who to the beauty of his 
voice joined nobility of pose and gesture, and a rare regu- 
larity of feature. When he wreathed his head with the 
laurel crown you would have said he was an ancient tri- 
umphator going to take his place in a chariot drawn by 
slaves. The actor was forgotten ; only the hero was visible. 
What was extraordinary about him was his great resem- 
blance to Napoleon, principally in profile. They might have 
been taken for two brothers; only their gaze differed: one 
was deep, the other of assumed gravity. 

Paris rushed there in crowds. The theatre was not spa- 
cious; a thousand intrigues were woven to obtain a seat. 



176 MEMOIRS OF THE 

The emperor himself disposed of the boxes; the tickets for 
the floor and balconies were distributed by the high officers 
of the court. My ticket admitted me to the foreign minis- 
ters' box, immediately adjoining the imperial box. Two 
equally interesting performances were thus to be enjoyed at 
the same time. 

Napoleon, who loved fine verse, at times appeared desirous 
of making the young empress share in his enthusiasm, if not 
in his satisfaction. Sitting rigid in her armchair with 
gilded eagles, she let her eyes wander about the theatre, only 
turning them upon the stage for short intervals, and when 
she was, so to speak, forced to it by the emperor's applause. 
He supported the apathetic indifference of his companion 
with exceptional patience. 

The piece over, about eleven o'clock, Their Majesties 
bowed to us and retired. 

At once the road to Paris, gorgeously lighted, shook 
under the swift course of the carriages of all who had seen 
this doubly royal play, so perfect was Talma's acting. Thus 
ended that brilliant day, which had as its sequel the most 
absurd occurrences. 

M. de Talleyrand, who had not thought of calling upon 
me, and who up to then had deemed it sufficient to deposit a 
card with my porter, came the next day in quest of details of 
the dinner of the day before. He questioned me most 
adroitly on what I had seen and heard; I limited myself to 
telling him what he very probably already knew. Contrary 
to his habit, he was extremely amiable ; he spoke in terms of 
high eulogy of Poland, and finally requested my company at 
lunch in his library. I eagerly accepted the invitation, and, 
as it is my purpose never to say anything but the truth, I 
must admit that I never spent a morning more delightfully. 
M. de Talleyrand did the honours of his curiosities. It was 
natural to find the handsomest and rarest editions collected 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 177 

by a fancier worth millions. However, nothing was com- 
parable to the way he showed his books ; he never said any- 
thing one might possibly know, nor anything that others had 
already said or written; he talked very little about himself 
and a great deal about the distinguished people with whom 
he had relations. In a word, he was as well informed as a 
grandee who devotes a lot of time to his pleasures could be. 
To complete this flattering picture, which yet does not 
flatter, I will say that M. de Talleyrand possessed the mirac- 
ulous art of momentarily throwing his past into oblivion 
when he spoke of the present. 

My door was besieged by visitors of all kinds. The finest 
mansions were offered me, it being supposed I should never 
leave Paris again. There were even persons who dared to 
counsel me not to refuse what they called a signal favour. I 
there saw laid bare all the baseness and corruption of the 
courtiers. What would they have thought had they been 
able to read my heart, and to see with what joy I would have 
exchanged the position they assigned me for an obscure life 
— like that which I had been leading for some months ! 

Charles de F came to bid me farewell at the moment 

I least expected it. Quite approving the view I had taken, 
he suffered from it, and with difficulty forgave me what he 
called an excess of goodness. Too perspicacious, however, 
not to guess and understand what it cost me to resist the 
liking he had inspired me with, he vowed an esteem and an 
attachment to me upon which I shall count my life long. I 
found myself free, at parting, to give him my portrait, with 
this motto, borrowed from the poem by Legouve : 

She is less than a mistress, and much more than a friend. 

The thud of the knocker falling on the door of my house 
as he left it for the last time long resounded in my ears ! I 
heard it in my dreams ; I awoke at it with a start ! Time only 
quieted that painful feeling; it was but by degrees, when I 



1 78 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

was back with my children, that the sentiment of respect and 
gratitude dedicated to my friend, which had given me up to 
the most sacred duties, conquered memories at once sad and 
sweet. 

I left Paris without reluctance; that town had witnessed 
my first sorrows — sorrows that one considers misfortunes 
before one has experienced worse, irreparable. 



Part the Fourth 
THE GRAND DUCHY OF WARSAW 



CHAPTER I 

BIGNON 

1811-1812 

BIRTH OF COUNT MAURICE POTOCKI THE COURT OF FRED- 
ERIC AUGUSTUS M. DE SERRA PRINCE JOSEPH PONIA- 

TOWSKI BIRTH OF THE KING OF ROME ENTHUSIASM OF 

THE POLES PRINCE PONIATOWSKI GOES TO PARIS PAU- 
LINE BORGHESE — M. BIGNON. 

A GREAT joy came to me in the course of the winter, and 
that joy caused me to lose sight, for a moment, of po- 
litical occurrences. The 13th of January (1812), at seven 
o'clock in the morning, I brought the son into the world who 
had been announced to me by the little soothsayer. He was 
born under the circumstances predicted. 

For the first time in my life I experienced the desire of 
having a royal godfather for one of my children ! I enter- 
tained the flattering idea of asking this favour of the great 
Napoleon, who was to resuscitate Poland. 

I therefore merely gave my son a private baptism, and he 
received the name — I hardly know why — of Maurice. Dear 
child, how pretty and good you were! Neither tears nor 
screams ever disfigured your fresh, chubby face; you were 
your mother^s love and the delight of the house; you were 

181 



1 82 MEMOIRS OF THE 

adored by every one. I still have to thank you for the happi- 
ness you gave me. 

When I returned to Poland we belonged to the King of 
Saxony, to whom Napoleon had given us, or rather, annexed 
us, scarcely knowing how to dispose of the Grand Duchy of 
Warsaw, which he had casually organised, leaving the care 
of its advancement to time and events. 

This creation of the Duchy of Warsaw was our bright star 
of hope. 

In default of a better, we had a sovereign of rare good- 
ness, who concerned himself about his country's welfare 
with a wise and paternal solicitude. The king and queen, 
already advanced in years, were, in truth, surrounded by a 
court nearly as somnolent and superannuated as that in 
Beauty and the Beast. You would have said all the wheels 
had stopped a hundred years ago. At this court at least 
sound principles were to be found, a disinterestedness which 
did not quite belong to the age, and manners that were cul- 
tivated and elaborate to excess. 

The form of government instituted by Napoleon very 
closely resembled that of all the Rhenish countries. We had 
a council, composed of seven ministers and a president. This 
heptarchy, to all appearances entirely national, was in reality 
subject to the influence of the French resident, a veritable 
proconsul, who exercised an almost boundless power. But 
in exceptional cases it was allowable to appeal to the em- 
peror himself through the agency of the ministerial secretary 
of state resident, attached to the crown, and solely charged 
with matters relating to the grand duchy. 

At the time of my arrival the French resident was M. de 
Serra, a Genoese nobleman, rather stiff and narrow, a great 
Latinist, according to scholars, but only little versed in the 
art of conversation, possessing neither the qualities nor the 
faults peculiar to the nation he represented. He was uni- 
versally esteemed, but not liked. Bitter in argument, he 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 183 

brought the iron will to bear on it which he had been advised 
to assume as a means of success in the service of an absolute 
master. Often my father-in-law, who was President of the 
Council, came back from a meeting in despair over the de- 
mands of M. de Serra. In vain the attempt was made to 
demonstrate to him that the country, drained by the expen- 
ditures forced upon it through the long stay of the army, 
was now empty of resources. He would listen to nothing; 
he answered objections by saying: "It must he done neverthe- 
less, gentlemen, and it zvill he, for the emperor demands it." 
In sheer hopelessness we addressed ourselves to the supreme 
master, who caused some funds to be advanced, and ordered 
the resident to temporise, without however yielding. 

At the bottom of his heart, M. de Serra did not like Na- 
poleon. He sometimes disclosed his feelings to those of the 
ministers of whose discretion he was certain, but these senti- 
ments in no wise diminished the zeal he applied to the exe- 
cution of the orders sent from Paris. 

The emperor had restored us our national flag, our lan- 
guage, our institutions, and our army, whose commander was 
Prince Poniatowski. Never was a man worthier than Prince 
Joseph to lead the fifty thousand braves who were already 
serving under him. Worshipped by the soldiers, whose 
perils and fatigues he shared, he could obtain from them at 
the slightest sign what others secured by means of severe 
discipline. 

His character presented curious contrasts. Suppressed 
at home, and gladly yielding for peace's sake, when neces- 
sary he found the virile energy required by the many diffi- 
culties besetting his path through life. From that moment 
the private individual disappeared, and made room for the 
public man, wholly devoted to the honour of his country. 
What was most astounding in this mixture of heroism and 
debility was that selfishness was never the motive of any of 
his actions; no man was ever more free from vanity. Per- 



1 84 MEMOIRS OF THE 

haps history may even reproach him for the entire absence 
of that imperfection; the exceptional position in which he 
was placed might have urged him to aspire to the throne, 
and thus assure his country's welfare. Yet his noble senti- 
ments, his splendid valour, and his glorious death have made 
a hero of him whose sacred name will remain dear to his 
fatherland forever. 

The letters from Paris contained nothing but accounts 
of the gorgeous festivities held on the occasion of the young 
sovereign's confinement, who, in bringing the earnestly 
wished-for son into the world, had fulfilled her husband's 
hopes, and firmly established the imperial throne. That, 
surely, was the most brilliant epoch of Napoleon's career; 
every one about him reflected, so to speak, his good fortune. 
There were nothing but parties and fancy-dress balls, to 
which all the gods of Olympus found themselves invited. 
The Queen of Naples appeared as Minerva, and her sister, 
the lovely Pauline, as Venus. 

For a long time the army had not enjoyed such a pro- 
longed truce. The presence of all this brilliant youth, eager 
for pleasure as well as for rest, lent the festivities of all kinds 
a new lustre. But in the midst of this general intoxication 
mysterious utterances were heard, and there began to be no 
further doubt of war — of that war in which Napoleon was 
to lose his name and his empire, and which he wanted, like 
Xerxes, to conduct at the head of a hundred different peo- 
ples. The time was consumed in diplomatic negotiations. 

Napoleon insisted that the Emperor Alexander sacrifice 
England to him. While gauging the danger of opposition, 
that prince could not resolve upon a change of policy, and 
temporised, assisted by the conciliating spirit of M. de Cau- 
laincourt, the French Ambassador, who, greatly taken with 
the noble character of the autocrat, and the confidence he 
displayed in him, held back his master's thunderbolts. 




^Friedericit iM'^'^^^"^ 



Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony. 

Fyom an engraving by Meckel of Graff' s painting i>i jygo. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 185 

Prince Poniatowski, sent by the King of Saxony and the 
government to express to the Emperor Napoleon the share 
of rejoicing the nation took in the birth of this ardently 
longed-for heir, brought back nothing positive from Paris 
on the subject of the war. The court was engaged in fes- 
tivities, and if some sad minds predicted an enterprise as 
perilous as it would be gigantic, they were not listened to, 
for the emperor was still silent. The prince was received 
with rare civility; he was given a most flattering reception. 
His handsome and noble figure brought him all manner of 
successes; the adorable Pauline did not show herself indif- 
ferent to the hero, and he was able to inscribe another vic- 
tory in the notebook of his gallantry. 

All of a sudden M. de Serra was ordered to Dresden, and 
was replaced in Warsaw by M. Bignon. We never knew 
the reason of this change, and M. de Serra himself claimed 
not to know ; however that may be, death was awaiting him 
at Dresden. M. Bignon took his place to the great satis- 
faction of the council, seeing that he understood things 
better, and was not so desirous of pleasing the master. 

As to society, it was less delighted ; we did not know how 
to value the new envoy as he deserved. But M. Bignon, 
too, would wear a mask at pleasure, and it would have been 
very hard to suspect, under this middle-class, common 
exterior, the superiority and talents of which he afterwards 
gave astonishing proofs. 

Condemned by his position to keep open house, he did the 
honours at home in a very awkward way. I must reproach 
myself with having laughed at it more than once. 

He dished us up one single, solitary sentence, which he 
modulated in all tones, probably supposing it to be within 
our reach more than any other. It was always : 

'Ts it possible that you are in this little corner? Who 
would have thought you would take such a bad place as this 



1 86 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

little corner ! Since I find you in this little corner, may I be 
permitted to come and share your isolation occasionally? 
Ah, there you are in your little corner! How wrong to 
hide like this! You have chosen that place to make your 
little observations, and to make fun of us from that little 
corner 1" 

And whether you were in the very midst of the most 
brilliant circle, or on the solitary sofa of a German dowager, 
everything became the ''little corner" for M. Bignon! If 
sometimes the avocations of master of the house left him 
no time to deliver himself of long periphrases, in passing 
he would let fall a bantering or respectful word, according 
to the person. 

But who would have thought that, a few years later, this 
extremely limited person was to become the most convincing 
orator, one of the most distinguished publicists, the writer to 
whom Napoleon was one day to confide the task of trans- 
mitting his wonderful history to posterity? Who would 
have thought then that M. Bignon was a superior man, 
whose speeches in Parliament would justly be the admir- 
ation of his countrymen? Who would have thought he 
would with such eloquence defend the sacred cause we were 
pleading before the tribunal of Europe, and that his noble 
example would arouse countless emulators? 

If the lightness of our judgment sometimes makes us 
unjust, it never makes us ungrateful, and M. Bignon has left 
imperishable gratitude in the hearts of the Poles. I admit, 
that from my point of view the change seemed extraordi- 
nary. I learnt, on this occasion, that one must beware of 
judging a statesman in a saloon, particularly if he was not 
born there. That was the secret of M. Bignon's vulgarity. 
In the council he was preferred to the noble M. de Serra, 
although his great merits were far from being recognised. 



CHAPTER II 

PRELIMINARIES TO THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

1812 

DECLARATION OF WAR THE POLISH ARMY NAPOLEON AND 

FRANCIS AT DRESDEN MARIE-LOUISE AND BEATRICE 

d'eSTE THE CONFEDERATE DIET THE ARCHBISHOP OF 

M ALINES THE DUKE DE BROGLIE M. d' ANDRE THE 

ambassador's AVARICE PRINCE CZARTORYSKI, MARSHAL 

OF THE DIET MATUSZEWICZ PRINCE ADAM PRINCE 

CZARTORYSKI'S SPEECH THE COCKADES. 

In the spring of 1812 war was at length declared, and we 
saw Europe shake under the victorious eagles of Napoleon. 
Counting the nations that marched behind the French stand- 
ards, the most skeptical did not venture to doubt the success 
of this audacious undertaking. Who could resist such num- 
bers, commanded by such a man? And the Poles hoped to 
see their country born anew to greatness and power, as, in 
fact, it ought to have been, to fight the enemies of its liber- 
ator and form the bulwark of civilisation. A word from 
him who ruled the destinies of the world would have tripled 
our strength, insured his victory, or at least covered his 
retreat. Why did he not speak that magic word, which, 
guaranteeing us our safety, would have spared him unnam- 
able disaster ? 

As soon as the news of the war was noised about the coun- 

187 



1 88 MEMOIRS OF THE 

try, the young men ran to arms from every side, even before 
being called out. Neither Russia's threats nor the reasoning 
and fears of parents were able to stanch this patriotic rush ; 
it was the same enthusiasm and the same devotion as in 
1806, but there was one degree more of confidence. 

A new generation took the place of that which, in part, 
had disappeared from the ranks of the French army. Chil- 
dren listened with feverish curiosity to the tales of their 
elders, and burned with martial ardour. The hope of re- 
turning victorious urged them to heroic deeds. Soldiers 
scarcely adult were the admiration of old grenadiers. Those 
who wore no uniform did not dare show themselves in the 
streets, for they risked being insulted by the street-boys. 

I am not very old yet, and three times have I already seen 
these wonders of heroism occur! In the space of forty 
years we made these generous efforts three times, all the 
worthier of admiration since among sober people few illu- 
sions and little hope prevailed. 

Napoleon left Paris the loth of December in the company 
of Marie-Louise, who wanted to take him back as far as 
Dresden. Emperor Francis joined them there, also accom- 
panied by his young spouse, Beatrice of Este, the last scion 
of that illustrious race to which so many historical traditions 
and romantic memories attach. This princess, sacrificed as 
those usually are whose fate is regulated by politics, was 
neither known nor appreciated in the court where she soon 
faded away for zvant of air. 

On the occasion of this meeting a rivalry was established 
between the empresses. Marie-Louise was unable to com- 
prehend any kind of greatness but her own splendid position; 
she tried to crush her mother-in-law with her magnificence, 
and overwhelm her with the costliest presents. But Aus- 
trian pride would not brook it ; the two princesses left each 
other with a coldness between them. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 1 89 

Marie-Louise shed floods of tears at separating from her 
husband. You would have said she had a presentiment 
that this farewell was to be the last, and that henceforth his- 
tory would only mention her name with the displeasure her 
wretched behaviour drew upon her. It was never known 
exactly what passed between the two monarchs, but by 
the manner in which Napoleon left his father-in-law the 
hope was allowable that they had entered upon an offensive 
and defensive alliance. 

An adept at playing upon the passions which were to serve 
his purpose, the emperor neglected nothing which might 
flatter the Poles and carry their enthusiasm to the utmost 
limits of the possible; he, however, allowed them to hope for 
everything without ever committing himself by hasty prom- 
ises, M. de Bignon was ordered to inquire minutely into 
national traditions, and to ascertain in what way popular 
uprisings had formerly been brought about at the approach 
of an enemy. 

For this purpose a confederate diet was convoked, and an 
ambassador was sent us from France, whose duty it was to 
watch what happened at important junctures. 

All of these demonstrations had the object of frightening 
Russia, by making the echo of our hopes heard in the re- 
motest provinces she had captured from us. 

We saw M. de Pradt arrive, with all the pomp befitting 
the representative of a great nation and a powerful monarch. 

But how small and vulgar he appeared to us in the midst 
of the glories in which he rejoiced in a haughty, and at the 
same time sordid, manner! Talking incessantly of his 
household affairs, of his cook, whom he was going to send 
for, "seeing she was economical and accomplished," scolding 
all his servants aloud, going to see his horses groomed, 
jabbering incessantly, untiringly telling anecdotes everybody 
knew, affecting a laugh at noble and enthusiastic sentiments 



igo MEMOIRS OF THE 

he did not understand, deficient in dignity of deportment 
and in tactfulness of discourse — such was M. de Pradt. 

In any other country, and above all under other condi- 
tions, he would have proved a complete failure; but the 
Poles saw in Monsignor the Archbishop of Malines only him 
who sent him, him whose mighty arm alone could help 
Poland to lift herself up again. We were, however, none the 
less surprised at this choice, which nothing justified, not even 
politeness. M. de Pradt was so entirely unfit to manage 
anything whatever, that he relied completely on a certain 
M. d'Andre. He was only to be met at the ambassador's 
great dinners, where, humbly seated at the bottom of the 
table, he kept his capabilities and his influence hidden. 
Nevertheless his expressive and vivacious countenance was 
ill designed to conceal the unpleasant impression that the 
host's merrymakers created in him, who (the host) some- 
times gave vent to a joviality befitting neither his age nor 
his station. The worse the ambassador seemed to us suited 
for the mission entrusted to him, the better was the make-up 
of the embassy. Among the most noticeable of these gen- 
tlemen, I will mention the Duke de Broglie, still very young, 
but who, from his very habit of eyeglassing his foot, already 
exhibited striking talents, and who enjoyed a sound educa- 
tion combined with an upright character; also M. de Bre- 
vannes, a man of infinite wit and good sense, faculties rarely 
found in company. He was suffering from aneurism at an 
advanced stage; his health often made him gloomy and 
meditative, but from the moment his disease gave him a 
truce, his sallies amused the whole room. I have scarcely 
ever met a man so quietly affable and witty. There was also 
M. de Panat, a little too much taken up with his own very 
small person and importance, but by no means deficient in 
parts and adroitness. He was, I believe, the labourer of the 
party. And finally there was that good and worthy M. de 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 191 

Rumigny, dear to the memory of all who knew him, and 
who, later, as Ambassador to Switzerland, proved the pro- 
tector of all Poles who were unfortunate. 

The arrangements in the Briihl Palace, which had been 
offered the ambassador, were not entirely completed, for 
there was as much care as expense being lavished on it. M. 
de Pradt, unwilling to remain in the hotel he had come to, 
knew not where to lodge. To hire a convenient apartment 
temporarily did not suit My Lord; he was economical, and 
quite determined to put aside all he could save out of the 
two hundred thousand francs fixed by the emperor as the 
cost of representing him. Seeing him wrapped up in such 
wretched concerns while events were complicating more 
and more and claimed the ambassador's full attention, my 
father-in-law concluded to offer him the apartment Prince 
Murat had occupied. It was thus we became acquainted 
with the thousand pettinesses that made up his life, and it 
was thus we learnt to judge him. 

The Polish army, already up to its full complement, 
thanks to the ardOur with which it had been organised, re- 
ceived marching orders. It started, including the most bril- 
liant youth in its ranks ; not one historic name was missing 
at the roll-call. 

We were all confident of the success of the enterprise. 
But too many private misfortunes were to be dreaded to 
render possible the absence of cruel fears ; we knew that all 
were going into the teeth of danger, led by a chief who 
would be their example in temerity. 

All measures having been taken, the emperor announced 
that he wished to see old Prince Czartoryski, Prince Adam's 
father, promoted to the dignity of Marshal of the Diet. 

Matuszewicz, Minister of the Interior, a man of infinite 
cleverness and ability, who owed the old prince everything, 
repaired to Pulawy to persuade his protector not to refuse to 



192 MEMOIRS OF THE 

associate his revered name with this most important event. 
People spoke of the effect which would be produced all over 
the country by seeing, at the head of the signatures affixed 
to the Federal Act, the signature of a universally respected 
old man, whose great fortune, age, and social standing made 
him a sort of patriarch, and with whom our oldest traditions 
were connected. 

They who knew the emperor's innermost thoughts as- 
serted that, if Napoleon attached such great importance to 
the nomination, it was because of his intention to put up the 
father's name against the son's. Bound to the Czar by a 
deep aft'ection, seduced by promises which then perhaps were 
not illusive. Prince Adam was expecting from Alexander 
the same Poland that we thought only to gain by the vic- 
torious arms of the Emperor of the French. Ardently pur- 
suing this chimera, the sole passion of his noble life, Adam 
Czartoryski served the autocrat faithfully, and declined to 
see in Napoleon's demonstrations anything but the means 
suitable for favouring ambitious plans. 

I shall never forget how, one day, after discussing these 
two opinions at length, of which one had become a conmc- 
tion with him, while the other was my own hope founded on 
the public interest, he exclaimed, with the most generous 
enthusiasm : 

"If the future should prove my distrust culpable, I would 
submit to banishment from our fatherland, which we should 
owe to the victor's magnanimity, without a murmur; I 
would raise altars to him in the very desert to which he had 
exiled me, to punish mj'-self for believing in Alexander's 
promises." 

The old prince, not sharing his son's views, or, more prop- 
erly speaking, having no fixed opinions of his own on ac- 
count of his advanced years and enfeebled faculties, ended 




r,I. DE PrADT. 
From a zc7y ssarse cn^raz-//:^ 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 



193 



by yielding to the earnest solicitations of Matuszewicz, and 
came to Warsaw, to step into the high place offered him. 

Owing to unpardonable imprudence he was not prevented 
from appearing in his Austrian field marshal's uniform, 
the uniform he habitually wore. The sight of these foreign 
colours in the midst of an assembly of patriots with reason 
shocked the representatives of the country. The honour of 
his name and white hair diminished considerably in this 
dress, which recalled but too well just grievances against 
Austria, since the First Partition, and since Maria Theresa's 
violent spoliation. 

Unfortunately this was not the only fault the worthy old 
man was guilty of. The day of the opening of the Diet he 
mixed his speech with a tincture of superannuated chivalry 
which the place and the circumstances repudiated. 

After beginning with an eloquent appeal to the noblest 
sentiments, to the most heroic devotion, to the most 
thorough spirit of sacrifice, he addressed the ladies filling 
the galleries; he spoke of the patriotism which wives, 
mothers, and sisters ought to give proof of. The old prin- 
cess and her daughters were in the place. They answered 
with cheers and oaths that went very near to the ridiculous. 
Cockades of the national colours, ready beforehand, were 
thrown and distributed among the whole audience. Sev- 
eral of these cockades were sent to headquarters by the 
courier whom the ambassador immediately despatched, to 
notify the emperor of the effect produced by the opening 
of the Diet. 

This gallantry, which partook of memories of the past, 
and this feminine patriotism, in a parliamentary chamber, 
could not but seem out of place, and sensible people regretted 
it. The prince, with his name and his eighty years, would 
have made a sensation in far greater harmony with the cir- 



194 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

cumstances if, calling the Poles to arms, he had been satis- 
lied to show them the new road lying open before them; 
there, neither theatrical emotion nor noisy demonstrations 
were wanted. Nothing is so apt to move men as elevated 
and deep sentiments simply expressed. 

The ambassador answered the marshal's discourse with 
such ambiguous diplomacy, that to be understood his reply 
would have needed explanation, and, as it happens in such 
cases, every one interpreted it after his own fashion ; people 
were only agreed on one point, which was, that the emperor 
was still unwilling to commit himself to anything. 



CHAPTER III 

DE PRADT 
1812 

SMOLENSK — DEATH OF COUNT GRABOWSKI — THE FRENCH 

EMBASSY THE KING OF WESTPHALIA AT WARSAW 

MADAME WALEWSKA AT DE PRADT's — ^DINNER IN THE 
COUNTRY — THE GNATS — M. DE BREVANNES' IMPROMPTU 
— THE ambassador's PRESENT. 

Napoleon penetrated as far as Wilna without meeting the 
least resistance; he ought to have guessed that the enemy 
wished to draw him into the heart of Russia. He made a 
stay of a few days in the capital of Lithuania, and organised 
a provisional government there like that of the grand duchy. 
M. Bignon was entrusted with the direction of this new em- 
bassy. From Wilna, Napoleon marched upon Smolensk, 
having echeloned his huge army. 

After every passage of a river the ambassador received 
the post which was to bear the bulletin to Paris for the 
Moniteur, and communicated the news to us. The public 
greeted the tidings with rapture, the town was gaily illumin- 
ated, and crowds rushed for particulars, which had the 
liveliest interest for every one of those who had relations 
or friends with the army. 

19s 



196 MEMOIRS OF THE 

The first Important bulletin announced the taking of 
Smolensk, the assault of which the emperor had led In 
person. The Poles there performed, as they did everywhere, 
prodigies of valour. At Smolensk the victorious army was 
on the border of the former Poland ; it looked as though the 
chief difficulties had been overcome. The Te Deum was sung 
In all the churches; but the Intoxication of victory having 
made room for the most natural alarms, inquiries were made 
about the inevitable losses to be mourned. The heroic death 
of General Michael Grabowski, killed at the moment when, 
at the head of his brigade, he dashed iirst on the ramparts of 
the town, called forth the deepest sorrow, and for the mo- 
ment Interrupted the demonstrations of joy. He was one 
of those men who, though young, earn every one's attach- 
ment. He was my friend Madame de Sobolewska's brother ; 
I saw him often. His poor sister persisted in disbelieving 
her misfortune, for the general's body had not been found ; 
for a long time she thought her brother had been taken 
prisoner. 

No sooner had the ambassador installed himself In the 
Briihl Palace, which had then been handsomely refurnished 
for him, than he announced his Intention of receiving once a. 
week, and letting the young people dance. But to this pro- 
ject a great difficulty was opposed : excepting the young men 
of the embassy, there was not a single person In the whole 
town of the right age to waltz : they were all with the army ! 
So we had to relinquish this form of amusement. More- 
over, the ladles living in retirement In the surrounding 
country were not in the humour to yield to the pressing 
invitations of His Eminence, as they were anxiously await- 
ing news from headquarters. 

The first parties at the embassy, too, were sad and dreary ; 
it was a desert. We heard that the emperor had detailed 
accounts rendered him of everything that happened at War- 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 197 

saw; it was said that he would not fail to be shocked at 
demonstrations of sadness — at bottom perhaps justified, but 
misplaced considering the pleasant arrangements made for 
us — and so the ladies were obliged to show themselves 
from time to time. 

The arrival of the young King of Westphalia (Jerome 
Bonaparte) put a little life into the town. He commanded 
a reserve corps; he had been ordered to join the emperor, 
but, not being able to make his troops move as quickly as 
his court, he was compelled to stop at Warsaw. It was 
even said that, being easily pleased with the creatures he 
made his intimates, and feeling so much at home in a country 
where the beauty of the women is neither rare nor forbid- 
ding, the ambassador one day got orders to make him leave. 
At least he played the king on arriving ; announced a func- 
tion, and said he would receive the ladies desirous of being 
presented to him. This seemed entirely out of place in a 
sovereign of twenty, who happened to be passing through, 
and played at reigning as children play at being lady. 

There was thus a schism ; some went, the greater number 
revolted against the ambassador's insinuations, who main- 
tained that Napoleon's brother could he refused nothing. 
The prince was offended at the lack of enthusiasm expressed 
by the ladies ; he tried to give a ball, but the same obstacles 
which had hindered M. de Pradt presented themselves. 

The entertainments were restricted to rather tedious din- 
ners; etiquette, observed with special rigour, excluded the 
agreeable men whose social position did not allow them to 
sit dozvn in the king's presence. 

We could not reconcile ourselves, we Poles, to these im- 
perial exigencies — our habits were too republican. 

Jerome has been wrongly accused of being without ad- 
vantages; he had a quick and just mind. With a touch 
more of the legitimate sovereign, and one less of puerile 



198 MEMOIRS OF THE 

vanity, he might have passed for a distinguished prince ; but, 
being a spoilt child of fortune, he used and abused her 
bounty. It was the history of nearly all the members of 
that family. Each of them, taken indwidually , possessed 
incontestable qualities, but the greatness of Napoleon over- 
shadowed them. None but absurdities were told about this 
young king's habits. It was stated that every morning he 
took a rum bath, and every evening a milk bath. His ser- 
vants, they said, put the liquor in bottles and sold it at a 
rebate. 

He pushed elegance so far that he never wore certain of 
his clothes twice, so much so that a Parisian hatter, whom 
he owed a considerable sum, brought a most unpleasant suit 
against him. The emperor would never hear of his brother's 
debts — and a little King of Westphalia was hardly free to 
do things so grandly without making trouble for his budget. 

I believe that at the embassy they were relieved to see him 
go at last; but another visit occurred which fully exposed 
the ambassador's want of tact. 

Madame Walewska, urging as a pretext family affairs 
which demanded her presence, arrived at Warsaw in the 
course of the summer. Nobody was deceived by this sub-- 
terfuge. As she had never given much attention to her 
private affairs, and as her small country-seat was in the 
hands of a steward, it was easy to divine that the hope of 
being called to headquarters was the real motive of the 
journey. But since his marriage Napoleon had avoided 
every appearance of fickleness. 

During the few days the fair one passed at Warsaw, 
Monsignor looked upon it as his duty to treat her as the 
fac-simile of an empress. She had the preference over all 
the ladies. At grand dinners she was always served first, 
occupied the seat of honour, and recieved all the homage and 




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COUNTESS POTOCKA 199 

marks of respect. This visibly shocked the elderly dames 
and irritated their husbands, while the young women, care- 
less of etiquette, laughed frankly over the amorous ecstasy 
with which Monsignor the Archbishop eyeglassed the little 
countess' pretty arm and plump white hand. 

She had developed exceedingly during her sojourn in 
France. She had there acquired a sort of modest self-assur- 
ance difficult to maintain in her equivocal position. Being 
obliged to circumvent Marie-Louise, who was supposed to 
be very jealous, Madame Walewska found a way, in Paris 
itself, to have doubts cast on the continuation of the secret 
relations she was entertaining with the emperor. And this 
is the only one of Napoleon's love affairs which was lasting. 
At the moment his fortunes ceased Madame Walewska felt 
at liberty to unmask, and followed the emperor to the Island 
of Elba; but he reproved this step, and the friend who was 
true in misfortune found herself removed, out of consider- 
ation for the unfaithful wife. 

M. de Pradt's too indiscreet attentions were the fault of 
the fair one's abrupt departure from Warsaw; she was evi- 
dently embarrassed, and preferred to shut herself up in her 
little house, where she awaited the issue of events. 

My husband, following the general movement, had gone 
to Wilna, where he had an office in the provisional govern- 
ment newly organised by the emperor. During this time I 
remained at Natoline with my children, and busied myself 
with arranging that delightful seat. 

M. de Pradt, wishing to judge for himself of this country 
house he had heard me speak of, wrote to me, to be asked 
to dinner. I was the more surprised at this cordiality and 
absence of ceremony, as I had done nothing to provoke such 
an invitation; I however answered as it behooved me. So 
we saw his ambassadorship arrive, drawn by fat jennets. 



200 MEMOIRS OF THE 

The day was very hot, and M. de Pradt very tired. As soon 
as he was a Httle rested he took up his chapter of ancient 
anecdotes, the newest of which dated from Madame de 
Pompadour, the journeys to Alarly, etc. He only stopped 
talking when we went into the dining-room. But there 
again we had to submit to long dissertations on every course. 
He was astonished at such good cooking in Poland, and he 
said so much about it, that I told him my head cook was a 
Frenchman! His surprise was tremendous — he never 
stopped overwhelming me with questions. His name? His 
birthplace? The school he had been brought up at? I 
knew nothing of these details, and I had a notion of sending 
for the artist himself. The young men of the embassy, 
ashamed of this rather ridiculous scene, were evidently 
pained by it. I rose from table, alleging lateness of the 
hour and the drive we were to take. Upon this the whole 
company hastened to the farm, where carriages were ready 
for us, while the ambassador set out back for town. 

It was the season and hour when the gnats are worst! 
One would have said a bad fairy had called them to this 
charming habitation, so as to hinder one's belief of being in 
paradise. If I speak of it here, it is because the little pests 
gave rise to a delightful impromptu. The youngest of the 
party, whom I have already mentioned, M. de Panat, much 
taken up with his importance and with his very tiny person, 
gave vent to bitter complaints, and deafened us with the 
piercing shrieks that every new sting wrested from him, and 
so much so that, at the end of the drive he exclaimed he was 
dead, that the last of his enemies had just finished him off, 
and that, being eaten by these cannibals, nothing remained 
for him but to be buried. Charmed at having another mon- 
ument to put in the park, I offered the epitaph for competi- 
tion! Here is what M. de Brevannes handed me after a 
few minutes; he had written it in his notebook, as he was 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 20 1 

walking. It will give the measure of the subtlety and grace- 
fulness of his wit : 

Mourn for this human fraction, so minute 
That, when a gnat to dine upon it tried, 
The equally unlucky little brute 
Of hunger died! 

M. de Panat was as delighted as ourselves over this quat- 
rain; he made fun of himself with a good humour that 
was entirely French. 

Lovable and no less clever nation, sweet country that I 
may perhaps never see again, whose charm I have so well 
understood, and whose memory I have so faithfully kept 
alive — receive my grateful homage here! Had I to begin 
that painful task called life again, I would wish to be born a 
Frenchwoman ! Not that I disown my country ; Heaven 
forbid ! The more oppressed she is, the more claim has she 
to be cherished by her children. But if one had the choice, 
before being committed, were it not allowable to improve 
one's lot, in order to escape from so many deceived hopes, so 
many irreparable misfortunes? 

I was then at the time of life when the future always looks 
better than it is to be, as if in consolation for the present. 
To-day, when sorrows have aged me even more than years, 
I regret the past, and count little on the future; it could 
never give me back all I have lost ! 

Let us return to M. de Pradt, so as not to have to speak 
of him again. When he was about to leave our house, to 
occupy the Briihl Palace, he thought it up to his dignity to 
leave my father-in-law a remembrance. At Willanow he 
admired Count Potocki's fine picture gallery, and knowing 
that my father-in-law, who had collected these pictures, was 
amateur and connoisseur in one, he asked permission to offer 
him a masterpiece. 



202 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

"He will not spoil the gallery," said he. 

My father-in-law did his best to decline, but not caring to 
disoblige the ambassador, he at last accepted. 

The painting he offered was in the episcopal palace at 
Malines ; it took a rather long time to send for it. 

"It will very likely be a Madonna of the Flemish school," 
said my father-in-law; I set no great store by them, nearly 
all of these Madonnas are wanting in nobility." "But sup- 
posing it were a Diirer or a Holbein?" I replied. 

And so we amused ourselves by guessing how far the 
magnificence of this gift would go, which was costing the 
giver nothing. At last the long expected box arrived ! The 
most miserable of daubs was unrolled ! It was the portrait 
of a brigand once famous in the country districts. But what 
was this picture doing in a palace adjoining the cathedral? 
That is what M. de Pradt was never able to tell us. 

I was at great pains to hide my astonishment ; my father- 
in-law, whose politeness was extreme, simulated rapture, and 
M. de Pradt withdrew, persuaded that he had mystified his 
host. The masterpiece took its place in the garret of 
Willanow. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE RETREAT 
1812-1813 

FIRST NEWS OF THE DISASTERS— ARRIVAL OF NAPOLEON AT 

WARSAW THE DINNER AT THE HOTEL d'aNGLETERRE 

MADAME WALEWSKA— COLONEL WONSOWICZ's STORY 

RETURN OF THE TROOPS PRINCE PONIATOWSKI MO- 

JAISK THE EAGLES THE CUCKOO PATRIOTIC ENTHU- 
SIASM PRINCE PONIATOWSKl's FAREWELL AND DEPART- 
URE HIS WILL. 

As far as Moscow the bulletins were magnificent — the 
enemy was in retreat; we were assured he was running 
away, and gave credence to it simply because it was our 
dearest wish. 

I shall not stop to speak of such well-known events, on 
which able writers will often dwell. I shall merely note 
down the circumstances relating to Poland and the impres- 
sions we gathered. 

During the winter of 1812 the assemblies at the embassy 
had become brilliant. People went there the more eagerly 
as it was at M. de Pradt's evening parties that they learnt 
the impatiently awaited news. When no couriers arrived 
the severity of the weather was blamed, which made the 

203 



204 MEMOIRS OF THE 

roads impassable. It was understood that there was no 
cause for alarm. 

When I review in memory the different sensations to 
which the events gave birth, I cannot find enough astonish- 
ment at our stupid and inexplicable feeling of safety. 

The disasters which were about to overwhelm the army 
were foreseen only by a small number of alarmists. The 
news of the burning of Moscow was the first signal of the 
rout. However, the ambassador took all possible and im- 
possible measures to nourish the illusions we were pleased 
to cherish. The messages sent from the army to the em- 
press were diverted, and went to Berlin — not a letter 
intrusted to the post reached its address ; all were intercepted. 
M. de Pradt seemed to have selected for his motto : Amuse 
and abuse; he was giving splendid balls and dinners. 

But of a sudden the news stopped altogether, and soon it 
was impossible to conceal what had happened. Faithful to 
the part he had set himself, the ambassador wanted to have 
us dance once more! But that last ball was so lugubrious 
that it reminded one more of a funeral service than a gay 
festivity. 

My father-in-law having communicated the news to me, 
— so persistently kept back, — under the seal of secrecy, in- 
sisted that I should go to this ball. I donned a black velvet 
dress, so as to have a pretext for not dancing. M. de Pradt, 
pretending to be very shocked at a dress so unsuited to the 
occasion, repeated several times that it was out of keeping 
with my age. But while he did the honours with the easiest 
air in the world, it was whispered that the ambassador had 
just then received orders to hold himself in readiness for 
departure, and that his traps were being packed. 

Where the blow was expected least it was felt most. War- 
saw fell into a sort of silent stupor. A frightful anxiety had 
seized all the families who had fathers, brothers, and husbands 



^ 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 205 

in the army. People only approached one another trem- 
bling. Imagination, this time, remained far behind the hor- 
rible truth. We were informed of everything at once, the 
news having been kept secret for more than a fortnight. 
The splendours that had fascinated us crumbled away in an 
instant. We understood that the most desperate efforts 
could henceforth not prolong a conflict on which all our 
hopes had been staked. The drama of several months ended 
in a dreadful manner : the ruin of the country and a host of 
private misfortunes. In vain the attempt to stretch out 
doubt as to the lot of those who had sacrificed all to the 
holiest of causes ! The despair was general : we were in- 
consolable at thus seeing the only chance favouring the res- 
toration of Poland fade awaj^ It was no longer to be 
presumed that Napoleon would regain his influence in the 
North and lay down the law there in the future. 

The loth of December we were mournfully gathered 
about the family hearth, and were deploring the inexpress- 
ible failure of the great man who had obstinately laid his 
power and fame in gage against the imperious process of 
nature. Suddenly my father-in-law was mysteriously 
called for on behalf of the ambassador. Every one was 
expecting to see M. de Pradt depart, from one moment to 
the next, so that our first idea was simply of a farewell 
visit. 

The anxious hours went by. Anything that might hap- 
pen would but alarm us — there was no further hope of good 
fortune possible. 

At the end of this long wait Count Stanislaus Potocki 
came back, visibly affected ; he let us guess who the person 
was he had been talking with. It was the Emperor Napo- 
leon himself, who, after sacrificing a million of men to his 
bold caprice, returned alone, conquered by a destroying ele- 
ment, but in no wise cast down, much less discouraged. 



206 MEMOIRS OF THE 

His stupendous genius opened the vision to him of France's 
immense resources, and the possibihty of utihsing them to 
catch the sceptre of the world again, which was about to 
escape him. 

He spoke of the disasters without seeking to disguise 
them, nor even to minimise their horrors. He admitted his 
mistakes, and alluded to the excessive confidence he had 
placed in his star, which up to that fatal hour had seemed to 
lord it over the elements. He detailed all the favourable 
prospects the future might offer, and gave a succinct review 
of European politics; he enumerated, with rare sagacity, 
the favourable and untoward circumstances he might meet 
with. He did not destroy our hopes, but encouraged our 
efforts, promised to return at the head of a fresh army, in a 
word, passed the fire of his discourse into the souls of the 
listeners. The fascination exercised by this extraordinary 
man upon all who heard him was so potent that my father- 
in-law, who had left us quite depressed, came back full of 
hope. And this, though he was no longer at the age of 
illusions, and his exact and penetrating mind made for the 
practical side in all the serious affairs of life. 

We who had not been present at the discourse of the great, 
magician, and were not under the spell, remained shattered. 
The present alone concerned us. It appeared a hideous 
spectacle. Through this bloody vision, the future, which 
had betrayed us so many times, loomed up gloomy and 
desolate. 

M. de Pradt, in the account he published of his mission, 
by trying to cast ridicule upon this remarkable interview, 
exhibited himself in a most unfavourable light. He played 
the part of the suborned flatterer to the end, and evinced 
himself full of admiration for his master's plans, as well as 
for the saying so often since repeated : From the sublime to 
the ridiculous there is hut a step. He retired only after 
many protestations. 







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COUNTESS POTOCKA 207 

We were greatly surprised to learn, that instead of stop- 
ping at the embassy, Napoleon had preferred to go to the 
Hdtel d'Angleterre, where he dined. Perhaps he had a 
notion of thereby saving his much compromised incognito, 
for he alighted at the entrance to the Praga Bridge, and 
traversed the whole suburb of Cracow at the hour when that 
section of the town is most alive, dressed in a green velvet 
fur coat with gold frogs, and a large sable cap on his head. 
It was a surprising thing that he was neither followed nor 
recognised. Occupied with current events, people could not 
think of the emperor already being this side of the Vistula, 
while he was still supposed to be lost in the ice and snow 
of the Dzwina. He was escorted by no one but M. de 
Caulaincourt and Colonel Wonsowicz, his orderly officer, 
whose bravery and devotion were known to him. His Mam- 
eluke had been ordered not to leave the carriage, and only to 
come to the hotel at dark, when everything should be ready 
for departure. 

As he sat down to table Napoleon sent for the ambassador, 
and instructed him to summon the president of the council 
and the two ministers, Mostowski and Matuszewicz, with 
whom he wished to converse. 

Horses were ordered at the post station in the name of M. 
de Caulaincourt, — this was the way of preserving the incog- 
nito, — and about nine in the evening they started again. 
Here is an anecdote as singular as it is little known : 

Napoleon wanted to turn out of his road to go to see 
Madame Walewska, who, as I have stated, was living alone 
in her castle. M. de Caulaincourt, to whom the emperor 
confided his project, opposed this lover's whim very vio- 
lently ; he had the courage to make representations of all its 
impropriety, and to dwell on the effect such frivolity would 
have on the empress, and on those who would not forgive 
Napoleon for thinking of his love affairs at a time when he 
had lately abandoned his routed army. After sulking for 



208 MEMOIRS OF THE 

a few minutes, the emperor, too just to bear resentment 
against one who had just given him this new proof of at- 
tachment and good sense, gave Caulaincourt assurances of 
esteem and affection which did honour to both men. Colo- 
nel Wonsowicz, a witness of this little scene enacted in the 
coach, not being bound to secrecy, told me about it in the 
spiciest manner. 

We were also indebted to him for curious details of the 
emperor's arrival at Dresden. The sole faithful ally re- 
maining to him was the King of Saxony ; he wished to speak 
with this prince on the steps he was contemplating. Arrived 
at M. de Serra's in the middle of the night, and wanting not 
to lose an instant, he had Colonel Wonsowicz commanded 
to go at once to the royal palace, and to wake the king, who 
from time immemorial had never been disturbed in his sleep. 
The watch and the sentinel were also asleep — it was only by 
going through the greatest difficulties that the emperor's 
envoy reached the king's apartment. He, started up by an 
officer, had all the trouble in the world to understand that 
Napoleon, passing through his capital, asked for a moment's 
conversation. Enlightened by Wonsowicz, he was dressed 
in haste, and threw himself into a sedan chair to be carried 
to the minister's, for the court stables being situated in the 
suburbs, too much time would have been required to get a 
carriage at this hour of the night, at which never before had 
anything unexpected happened. In the morning, the rumor 
was spread of the king's disappearance, and of its being un- 
known what had become of him. Great was the alarm. 
The chamberlains, the pages, and the runners scoured the 
town, spreading this strange news, whose explanation was 
forthcoming only when the emperor was already on the 
way to Paris. 

A few days after Napoleon's return those of our soldiers 
who had been in a fit state to endure the journey gradually 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 209 

appeared. Some were clad in rags, which could have been 
no protection against the cold ; others, better provided, were 
wearing women's furs. 

We saw Count Arthur Potocki, Prince Poniatowski's ad- 
jutant, arrive in an open sledge, stricken with a nervous 
fever. 

Prince Poniatowski was one of the last to come back. His 
journey had been long and severe. He had twisted his foot 
in getting off a horse, and was obliged to remain in his 
carriage in a recumbent position, experiencing great pain 
at the least jolt. 

As soon as I learnt of the prince's arrival, I hastened to 
kiss his hands. His features, overcast by his sufferings, 
expressed even more mental than physical pain. He 
bitterly deplored the splendid army which had been cut to 
pieces under his very eyes ; he bewailed the heroic death of 
so many braves sacrificed to the incomprehensible lapse of 
prudence on the part of the great man to whom, neverthe- 
less, he had remained faithful in spite of all. I thought I 
perceived he had not altogether lost hope, and was all the 
more surprised, as he belonged to the few who, though they 
did so devotedly, did not go blindly into such a gigantic 
contest. He stated that his sojourn in Warsaw would be 
brief, and that once the remnants of the Polish army were 
gathered together, he would actively take the reorganisation 
of the troops in hand. 

He added that, for the carnival, we should have Aus- 
trian officers, less affable than the French, but perfect dan- 
cers. This was an allusion to the Prince of Schwartzen- 
berg's regiment, on which Napoleon was still counting, a 
final illusion, which endured but a few days; for no sooner 
did the Polish army advance upon Cracow than the Aus- 
trian general handed over Warsaw to the Prussians, and 
then the treason became patent. 



2IO MEMOIRS OF THE 

Having noticed a huge folio near the prince's bed, I asked 
him laughingly if that was not his memoirs. 

"Oh, we have plenty of time to write!" said he. "Take 
the volume as a remembrance; it is my private loot. I 
had it picked up on the march, and read it for amusement. 
It is a journey to the East. Keep it for your children; time 
will add value to it. You know, I hope, that we went 
through the midst of abandoned treasures in Moscow sup- 
porting arms; not one of my men left the ranks." He spoke 
these few words with a sort of proud satisfaction shining in 
his eyes. 

I could not refrain from reminding him of another oc- 
currence, the assault on the battery whose capture resulted 
in the memorable victory of Mojaisk. He listened to me 
with his characteristic modesty — he made so little of the 
gifts nature had lavished on him, that his rare valour seemed 
to him the attribute of every well conditioned man; he did 
not believe in cowards. 

A few days after his return, while we were listening with 
intense interest to his story of the campaign, an officer came 
to inform him that a great number of soldiers were begging 
permission to give back their eagles to their captain. 

Unable to walk, the prince had himself carried into the 
courtyard; we followed. I then witnessed a touching and 
sublime sight. As soon as Poniatowski apppeared on the 
steps before the door all those braves crowded about him, 
depositing their eagles at his feet. The soldiers had not 
lost sight of these insignia for a moment; at a time when 
others had thought only of saving their lives, they had 
thought of the honour of the regiment. A single one of 
these eagles was missing. 

"Ah !" they all cried at once, "he is here, the cuckoo, but 
as his head has been carried off by a bullet, our comrade is 
ashamed to present him in this pitiful state. Come on, 
come forward, it is not your fault!" 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 211 

All burst out laughing, and a young man of twenty was 
seen to advance, his arm in a sling; he pulled the said cuckoo 
out of the pocket of a coat in rags; putting it with an 
abashed air by the side of the others, he excused himself for 
bringing back his eagle thus mutilated. 

"Well, he is young yet, is our comrade," said the oldest 
men, "he was always in front." 

And then there were cries of "Long live Poland ! Long 
live our beloved chief! Long live our country!" 

Unable to contain his emotion longer, the prince secretly 
wiped his eyes. The soldiers apparently thought the prince 
in grief, and to console him told him that soon he would 
see his cannons returning. 

"Do not be distressed," said they. "They who will bring 
them back were not able to hasten as we were. For, do you 
see, it's a deal heavier. But they will come in a few days, 
never fear. Our horses are dead or eaten; we harnessed 
ourselves to our cannons. Only seek recovery, and you 
shall see that all will go well. We shall fight, we will have 
revenge ! We will follow you if it were to Hell !" 

And then came huzzas, and caps in the air ; and what caps, 
great Heavens! Rags! Shreds fastened one to another! 
And these people had not a warm garment, no shoes ! The 
best off had their feet swathed in strips of cloth. All, at 
least, were merry and active, ready to start again the next 
day, or the same if necessary. 

The prince had all the money in his exchequer divided 
among them. An improvised meal was served them in the 
courtyard. We poured them out champagne ; they drank en- 
thusiastically to the health of their chief. All the members 
of the prince's household and the visitors showered civil- 
ities upon them, they alone seeming surprised at this sort 
of celebration — they thought they had done no more than 
their duty. 

Time went by heavily. A kind of benumbing sorrow 



212 MEMOIRS OF THE 

had succeeded the most poignantly cruel sensations. The 
future loomed up threatening. 

The great fight, the fight to the death — all Europe against 
one man — was really to begin, and to settle our fate. 

Alas ! It was not on the banks of the Dzwina but on the 
shores of the Rhine that the colossal duel was to be enacted. 
It was all over with the hero's good fortune; the ruins of 
his throne were to crush us in their fall. 

Meanwhile, our army received orders to advance upon 
Cracow. Prince Poniatowski left Warsaw at the end of 
January. He was completely restored, and at the moment 
of departure came to bid me farewell. I noticed that his 
handsome face was sad and melancholy. It was not the 
thought of saying good-bye which disturbed him; indiffer- 
ent to his own fate, he was thinking of Napoleon's. He 
foresaw the collapse of the edifice of his power over Europe, 
built upon victories. 

When I embraced him for the last time I could not hold 
back my tears — and then he scolded me; he forbade me to 
mourn him if he should happen to meet with a glorious 
death on a field of battle. Should he not be happy, he 
asked, not to see the misfortunes which would probably 
befall our poor country? 

Observing that, despite the consolation he was trying to 
dispense, I continued in my affliction, he attempted to give 
the conversation a lighter turn. 

He sent for my children, kissed them, enjoined it upon 
me to speak to them about him some day, and departed, a 
great deal more moved than he wished to appear. Alas, 
it was the last good-bye ! We ascertained afterwards that, 
sure of never coming back, he had made his will, and noth- 
ing was nobler and touching than the tone of his last 
wishes. He desired his collection of weapons to be dis- 
tributed among his former comrades, and the money found 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 213 

in his treasury to be divided among his poor and among 
the soldiers who had medals, in order, he said, that they may 
drink my health once more. He left a competence to two 
natural children, and to one belonging to an old man-ser- 
vant; he left his sister the usufruct of his whole fortune, 
and bequeathed his estate, Jablonna, to me. May his mem- 
ory be held in reverence there forever, and may the precious 
remembrances there collected never fall into sacrilegious 
hands ! 

For my part I believe I have acquitted myself of the ob-- 
ligation this legacy imposed. For ten years I would not 
touch the revenue from this lovely place except for its em- 
bellishment. The inscription on the library, or rather the 
museum door, expresses my thought: 

USTRONIE BOHATERA STARANNIE 

OZDOBIWSKY POTOMKOM 

PRZEKAZUJE. 

("This retreat of the hero, adorned by my fostering care, 
I bequeath to his descendants.") 



CHAPTER V 

DEATH OF PRINCE PONIATOWSKI 
1813 

PRINCE ADAM CZARTORYSKI AND ALEXANDER — THE EM- 
PEROR OF Russia's proposals to poniatowski — prince 

ANTONY RADZIWILL PRINCE PONIATOWSKl's ATTITUDE 

HIS INTERVIEW WITH NAPOLEON AT DRESDEN — THE 

CAMPAIGN IN SAXONY PRINCE SULKOWSKI — GENERAL 

DOMBROWSKI — THE POLES IN ELBA — KRASINSKI — PRINCE 
PONIATOWSKl's FUNERAL. 

We soon gained certainty of Austria's having come to an 
understanding with Russia; while Prince Poniatowski was 
on the way to Cracow, the Austrian field-marshal made 
room for the Russian vanguard, under General Czaplic, 
who, being a Pole, was intrusted with the task of dissem- 
inating his sovereign's manifestoes, which were redundant 
with seductive assurances and promises. 

As soon ag the ministers, Matuszewicz, Mostowski, and 
Sobolewski, under the leadership of Count Zamoyski, were 
apprised of Emperor Alexander's magnanimous designs, 
mysterious communications began to pass between them 
and the emissaries of the Russian government, which were 
watched by M. Bignon, who, after his return from Wilna, 

214 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 215 

had received orders to repair to Cracow in attendance upon 
Prince Poniatowski, 

Deceived by illusory hopes, Prince Adam Czartoryski, 
Alexander's friend and confidant, did not doubt that the 
autocrat had conceived the generous project of giving 
Poland back her original status and administration; he 
made it his duty to serve the Czar, but did not foresee that 
the old Russian party would place insurmountable obstacles 
in the way of all revolutionary schemes. And here it was 
that Novosiltzo£f intervened, who played such an infamous 
part in the affairs of our unhappy country. He pretended 
to share Czartoryski's patriotic hopes and Alexander's lib- 
eral tendencies, and so succeeded in creeping into their 
favour, all the while, however, tranquillizing the Boyards 
as to the effects of the young sovereign's generous ideas. 
He profited surreptitiously by the enormous wealth of 
Prince Czartoryski, to the satisfaction of his own luxurious 
tastes, and to the enjoyment of his secret debauches. En- 
abled, through intrigue, to take a hand in politics, where 
his baneful influence was henceforth to exercise such pow- 
erful control, he was made a member of the provisionary 
government. 

Events were at this stage when Prince Poniatowski, es- 
tablished at Cracow with his army, was still awaiting 
Napoleon's orders. 

Alexander, judging the moment opportune to wean us 
away from France, had the most alluring conditions offered 
the prince for Poland. On this occasion it was that Prince 
Poniatowski uttered the noble words which so entirely re- 
vealed his character : 

"I would not take advantage of the best founded hopes 
if they had to be bought at the price of dishonour." 

The Russian envoy returned without having accom- 
plished anything. Russia went further. Prince Antony 



2l6 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Radziwill, husband of Princess Louise of Prussia, the king's 
cousin, arrived in Cracow, armed with secret instructions. 
Radziwill gave the prince to understand that the moment 
had come when no one would be surprised to see Poniatow- 
ski reach out for the electoral crown; he showed that, the 
lot of Poland being bound up with so righteous an ambition, 
history would never reproach the brave captain for having 
abandoned the French standard when he was fully justified 
in unfurling his own. 

This insidious speech was accompanied by the most flat- 
tering eulogies. 

Poniatowski replied that, wishing to meet worthily the 
manifestations of esteem transmitted to him in the name of 
a respected monarch, he believed it to be his part to answer 
with complete frankness. He then rejected outright the 
proposals which, to say the truth, had surprised more than 
flattered him. 

'T have sworn," he added, "not to separate my country's 
cause from Napoleon's, who has been our only friend." 

Prince Poniatowski caused Prince Radziwill to leave 
Cracow within twenty- four hours; he warned him that he 
would inform M. Bignon of what had transpired. 

From that date did the special confidence begin which ever 
after Napoleon reposed in Poniatowski; the emperor even 
went so far as to conceive the notion of putting the prince on 
the throne of Poland, should circumstances allow. Alas! 
That is where he ought to have begun. Unfortunately, 
the suspicion and contempt which the emperor entertained 
against mankind often falsified his estimate of individuals. 

I have seen a letter in which my uncle reported a private 
interview he had had at Dresden with Napoleon, at the 
time when the treaty of peace was being considered, which 
might then have been passed on reasonable terms. A 
rather strange fancy impelled the emperor to demand an 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 217 

expression of opinion on this important question from the 
prince. Poniatowski, with his soldier's bluntness, said 
without hesitation: 

''Since Your Majesty commands, here is my advice — I 
think it would be wise to make peace in order to make war 
all the better afterwards." 

''Perhaps you may not be wrong," exclaimed Napoleon, 
"but I shall make war in order to make a better peace. The 
future will decide who is right." At that moment he 
tugged the bell-pull, with which he had been playing during 
their conversation, so hard that the bell was answered at 
once. 

The 13th of April, 18 13, the Polish army was ordered to 
move. It crossed Bohemia and concentrated at Zittau, in 
Saxony. Many years later, on my way to Carlsbad, I 
travelled through that charming country, and was happy 
to find the name of Prince Poniatowski cherished and ven- 
erated there. 

The summer of 181 3 saw the last of the feats of Napo- 
leon's genius. It was still the sun of Austerlitz lighting up 
the battles of Liitzen and Bautzen, but the battle of Leipsic 
was the signal of the giant's fall. 

The emperor found Prince Poniatowski at Delitz ; he had 
all the places pointed out to him where the enemy would 
be likely to open the attack, and intrusted the most impor- 
tant place to the valour of the Poles. 

During the whole of the i6th of October they held their 
position, although with numbers greatly inferior to the 
enemy's. At Delitz Poniatowski was given the marshal's 
staff. On the evening of the 19th he was called to the em- 
peror to take his orders. 

"Prince," he said to him, "you will defend the southern 
suburb and cover the retreat." 

"Your Majesty, I have very few men left," answered 



2l8 MEMOIRS OF THE 

Poniatowski, with difficulty concealing the grief he had felt 
at seeing three-quarters of his soldiers fall the day before. 

"No matter! Seven thousand Poles under your com- 
mand are worth an army corps." 

"Your Majesty, we are all ready to be killed." 

There, once more, the Poles performed miracles; but the 
small number who escaped from the enemy were hemmed in 
through the blowing up of the bridge at Leipsic. Their 
heroic chief, perceiving himself about to be taken prisoner, 
jumped into the Elster. He did not know how to swim, 
and one of his arms was in a sling. He went down in the 
floods of that wretched little river, immensely swollen by 
the autumn rains. 

"God put the honour of the Poles into my hands, and to 
God I deliver it !" Such were his last words. In their sub- 
lime simplicity they summed up the history of his whole life. 

For some days we remained ignorant of the cruel catas- 
trophe which was the culmination of our misfortunes. The 
Russians, who were masters of Warsaw, suppressed the de- 
tails of the battle; but soon we learnt the frightful news, 
whose effect can only be compared to that of an earthquake. 
The country was at the mercy of our most barbarous ene- 
mies, our army was destroyed, all our resources were ex- 
hausted. The modest Duchy of Warsaw, which once had 
seemed beneath our aspirations and efforts, was to become 
a subject of everlasting regret. 

Napoleon found himself at great pains to replace Prince 
Poniatowski — he would not disband what remained of the 
Polish troops, reckoning upon employing them if occasion 
offered. His choice fell upon Prince Sulkowski, who had 
distinguished himself in Spain, and whose name was asso- 
ciated with his memories of Egypt, where a Sulkowski had 
attracted his attention and won his favour. This choice 
was not happy. Sulkowski, though full of valour, had 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 219 

neither the talents nor the character of a superior indi- 
vidual. Tired of a long and disastrous campaign, having 
nothing to ask of fortune, and caring little for fame, he had 
but one desire, which was to return to a wife he adored. 
He therefore did not at all apply himself to the exhibition of 
a soldierly spirit, and, feeling himself incompetent for his 
task, handed in his resignation. 

The command was then made over to Dombrowski, the 
same who had formerly organised the first Polish legions 
in Italy. 

Dombrowski crossed the Rhine at Mayence, and halted at 
Sedan with a very incomplete regiment. General de Fla- 
hault, the emperor's adjutant, was ordered to join him, to 
assist him in making up the complements. Not without 
trouble did they succeed in mustering three regiments of 
cavalry, of whom Count Pac took command, while Dom- 
browski, ill and already far advanced in years, remained at 
Sedan, where he busied himself with the re-formation of the 
infantry. 

The brave Count Pac, seriously wounded in the affray 
at Craon, was obliged to retire. In the meanwhile Vincent 
Krasinski, by a decree signed at Fontainebleau the 4th of 
April, 1 8 14, was awarded the post of General-in-Chief of 
the Polish army. 

Our compatriots vainly solicited the privilege of follow- 
ing the hero into exile. Napoleon, touched by the signs of. 
these soldiers' devotion at the moment he found himself 
betrayed, selected thirty Poles, who, under Colonel Jerz- 
manowski, embarked for Elba. 

Impartiality is a sorry duty for them who write their me- 
moirs, when by the side of praiseworthy actions they must 
reveal errors and turpitude. 

The character of Poles is generally a mixture of two 
extremes: unlimited patriotism, nobility, and disinterested- 



220 MEMOIRS OF THE 

ness, or unbridled boasting, ambition, and conceit. It was 
of these last elements that Krasinski's character was com- 
posed; ambitious without being great, a courtier by princi- 
ple and taste, an unflinching liar, he shrank from nothing 
that might further his mad designs. 

Wishing to pass for a great lord patronising the arts, 
he asked Vernet for a picture representing the battle of 
Somo-Sierra, and had the audacity to have his portrait 
put in; nobody however was ignorant that he had not been 
present at the battle; he had restricted himself to a display 
of his vanity. Possibly his contemporaries might have 
absolved him, but after the fall of Napoleon he attached 
himself to the Emperor Alexander and became a Russian, 
just as before he had become a Frenchman. He came to the 
affairs of his country with a sense of duty which made the 
patriot Niemcewicz surname him the volunteer from base- 
ness. 

The last chance which fortune reserved for him might 
perhaps have redeemed him in the minds of his countrymen, 
had he known how to make use of it ; but an invincible pro- 
clivity for intrigue, and the desire to rise at any cost, 
dragged him down to shameful ways, and at last brought 
contempt upon him. Charged by Alexander with taking 
the wreck of our army back to Poland, he was told to stop 
at Leipsic, to exhume the remains of Prince Poniatowski. 
After fulfilling this obligation Krasinski ought to have dis- 
appeared, lived on the past, and waited the course of events. 

To speak of the transfer of these venerated ashes, I must 
collect myself. 

The funeral procession anticipated, the route began to 
swarm with a numerous population that went to meet him 
whom they regarded as the depository of the national hon- 
our. It was all weeping and wailing. The clergy came in 
full pomp to the town gates of Warsaw, to receive the 




General Jean Henri Domerowski. 

From ail engraving by Hopivood of tJte portrait by Stachozvit: 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 221 

corpse, which was laid on a hearse covered with a mantle 
of ermine and adorned with insignia and coats of arms. 
The troops followed in dull silence, with arms reversed. 
Of a sudden, and by a spontaneous movement, the soldiers 
rushed at the horses, unharnessed them, and, without even 
referring to their officers, seized upon the coffin. They thus 
reached the church of the Holy Cross; there they sur- 
rendered the precious burden into the hands of the general 
officers who deposited it in the subterranean chapel. Later 
on Poniatowski's remains were to be removed to Cracow, 
to the cathedral where our kings and our great men lie 
interred. 

From that day forth every morning a crowd pressed into 
divine service, devoutly attending the funeral mass cele- 
brated at the coffin. More than once did I find myself be- 
side an old soldier bedewing the steps of the catafalque with 
his tears. 

My mourner's carriage had been able only to follow the 
procession slowly, in the midst of this throng, whose sor- 
row, more than any others', I understood and shared. I 
had taken my children with me; it seemed to me as though 
I were absolving a last duty in offering their youthful im- 
agination the sight of this dark drama ; I wished them never 
to forget what glory there is in living and dying so. 




PAG 



^■"X 



(A 



\ '^ 



(•> p ,ti .' 



A ^ 



!P i| |.U il.DJiVlTi'i-i W'.i' 



Count Pac. 

Front an engravhig by Falcke. 



Part the Fifth 
THE RUSSIANS AT WARSAW 



CHAPTER I 

KOSCIUSZKO AND ALEXANDER 
1815 

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND KOSCIUSZKO 
IN 1 8 14 THE BURIAL MOUND THE MINISTERIAL COUN- 
CIL NOVOSILTZOFF M. DE LANCKOY's CHIBOUQUE. 

WHILE visiting my husband's parents, where I am 
engaged with the education of my three children, I 
sorrowfully resume the recital of the events which happened 
in Poland after the abdication of Napoleon. 

The Emperor Alexander declared he would take our 
country under his immediate protection. At Paris he 
evinced the most flattering regard for the Poles. Upon this 
General Kosciuszko thought it proper to address a letter 
to the Emperor of Russia, as reproduced here : 

Letter from Kosciussko to the Emperor Alexander. 

"Your Majesty — If, from my humble place of retreat, 
I venture to address a great monarch, it is because his gen- 
erosity is well known to me. I begin by asking three 
favours of Your Majesty: the first is to grant a general 
and unrestricted amnesty to the Poles, and to decree the 
freedom of the peasants scattered through the foreign ar- 
mies when they shall return to their homes. The second 

225 



226 MEMOIRS OF THE 

is that Your Majesty will proclaim Yourself King of Poland, 
accept a constitution analogous to that governing England, 
and that You will establish schools, maintained at the cost 
of the government, for the instruction of the peasants. 
The third is that their serfdom be abolished in ten years' 
time, and that they enjoy owners' rights on their land. 

"If my prayer is heard, I shall come, ill as I am, to throw 
myself at Your Majesty's feet, and thank You, and render 
homage to my sovereign. Could my weak capacities still 
be of any use, I would leave at once, to join my com- 
patriots and faithfully serve my country and my King. 

-n A -1 o "KOSCIUSZKO." 

Berville, April 9, 18 14. 

Alexander replied on the 3d of May, the date of the Con- 
stitution of 1 79 1. Skilled in the art of political coquetry, 
he purposely chose a day dear to the Poles to make them the 
most splendid promises, and to secure the personal affec- 
tion of Kosciuszko. This was his answer : 

Letter from the Emperor Alexander to Kosciuszko. 

*T feel a deep satisfaction. General, in answering your 
letter. Your dearest wishes are accomplished. With the 
aid of the Almighty I hope to realize the regeneration ot 
the brave and worthy nation to which you belong. I have 
solemnly promised to do so, and at all times its welfare has 
occupied my thoughts. Political affairs alone have hin- 
dered the execution of my plans. Those obstacles no longer 
exist. Two years of terrible and glorious fighting have 
levelled them. A little while yet and the Poles shall re- 
cover their country, their name, and I shall have the happi- 
ness of convincing them that, forgetting the past, one whom 
they thought their enemy will be the man to fulfil their de- 
sires. What great pleasure, General, to have you at my 
right hand! Your name, your character, your talents will 
be my firmest support. 

"Believe me. General, in fullest esteem, 

"Alexander." 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 227 

Such words admitted no doubt of the intentions of him 
who had written and signed them with his own hand. Kos- 
ciuszko, seduced and carried away, came to Paris to offer 
his services to the emperor, who, full of consideration for the 
champion of liberty everywhere (Kosciuszko had partici- 
pated in the war in America), went so far as to order a 
guard of honour to be stationed in front of the mansion 
occupied by the general. 

Understanding what enthusiasm that honoured name 
would arouse in Poland, Alexander effusively accepted the 
noble patriot's generous offer, initiated him into his plans, 
and invited him to follow him to the Congress of Vienna, 
where our fate was to be finally decided. 

Having however soon persuaded himself that the schemes 
of the Emperor Alexander were not or could not be what 
his ardent patriotism had imagined, he held aloof, and de- 
clined to have his name associated with the illusive promises 
incessantly poured upon us by the autocrat. 

His heart full of bitterness, Kosciuszko returned to Swit- 
zerland, to end his days there. A few years later he died in 
the arms of faithful friends, leaving a name which will be 
revered forever. The Poles obtained permission from the 
emperor to take back the earthly remains of Kosciuszko to 
the soil he had so warmly cherished and defended. His 
body was laid away in the cathedral at Cracow. 

With the design of preserving such precious memories, 
and of, so to speak, renewing them in perpetuity by placing 
before the eyes of future generations a monument which 
would recall the services and devotion of this popular hero, 
it was decided to erect a burial-mound in his honour. It 
took ten years to make this monument, and enormous sums 
of money — all classes of society joining in subscribing : the 
emperor headed the list and contributed his gift. Far from 
being without greatness of soul, Alexander had a quality 



228 MEMOIRS OF THE 

with which kings are rarely endowed: he understood ex- 
alted sentiments, and did not seem to take umbrage at them. 

Directly after the fate of our country had been settled at 
the Congress of Vienna, the Emperor Alexander added to 
his other titles that of King of Poland, and, wishing to 
give an appearance of nationality to the government, he 
nominated a council, with which three men of the highest 
integrity were connected : Prince Adam Czartoryski, Wawr- 
zecki and Prince Lubecki — the presidency devolved upon 
the Russian Senator Lanckoy. 

Novosiltzoff was also a member of the council. 

Nature had disfigured this man, as though she had planned 
the repulsive expression of his face to act as an advertise- 
ment to those whom his cunning and duplicity might lead 
iijto error. He squinted in a very singular manner : while 
one of his eyes fawned, the other searched the bottom of the 
soul for the thoughts one attempted to hide from him. He 
was presented to me by Prince Czartoryski, and, during the 
first part of his stay in Warsaw, often came to my house, 
apparently to find out what was being said and what was 
thought there. 

I acknowledge that he attracted me for some months — I^ 
believed him true to our interests. People more experi- 
enced than I were caught, and recovered less quickly. A 
natural son of Cotmt Strogonoff, Novosiltzofif had been 
brought up abroad, thanks to the munificence of this great 
noble. His sojourn in England had given him the appear- 
ance of a "gentleman." His malignant influence was exer- 
cised in Poland for twenty years. A vile and covetous 
informer, he was perpetually inventing conspiracies to 
frighten the government, and thus compromising the liberty 
and life of young students whom unhappy mothers ran- 
somed at the price of their slender possessions. 

Upon his installation, M. de Lanckoy sent for his wife 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 229 

and children, all of Patagonian ugliness. Nevertheless, in 
spite of his being the type of a Tartar, of his protruding 
cheek-bones and his little Chinese eyes, M. de Lanckoy had 
the altogether pleasing face of an honest man. He was one 
of the few Russians who justly pass for honourable. But 
the surface smacked of the bear, so rough was it. 

I remember, when obliged to go to Mme. de Lanckoy's, I 
was cautioned that the president took it upon himself, like a 
real satrap, to come into the drawing-room with his pipe in 
his mouth, when he expected to count on the indulgence of 
the ladies who might be there. I therefore comported my- 
self very stiffly, so as not to be received as an intimate. The 
room where Mme. de Lanckoy was sitting, impregnated 
with a strong smell of tobacco, left no doubt about what I 
had been told. But the footman, having hastened to an- 
nounce me, the master of the house had had time to escape. 
I found a number of people there, M. de Novosiltzoff among 
them, whom I accosted, in an affected tone, with regard to 
the infamous odour which permeated the atmosphere of the 
drawing-room, requiring him to make careful search 
whether, by means of stove-pipes, there was no communi- 
cation with the guard-house, situated in the courtyard of 
the Briihl Palace, which the president occupied. I had 
every occasion to believe that I had been understood, seeing 
that, since that day, he abstained from coming to smoke in 
the drawing-room, which earned me the thanks of more 
than one of the ladies who, not having the courage to tes- 
tify their disgust, had found themselves compelled to swal- 
low the puffs of smoke which M. de Lanckoy's chibouque 
emitted. 



CHAPTER II 

THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA 
1815 

PRINCE CZARTORYSKI AT THE CONGRESS — CORRESPONDENCE 

WITH LORDS GRAY AND HOLLAND THE PRINCE DE MET- 

TERNICH THE PRINCE DE TALLEYRAND LORD CASTLE- 

REAGH THE CONGRESS DANCES MONARCHS AND MIS- 
TRESSES THE TOURNAMENT NEWS OF NAPOLEON's 

LANDING LONG LIVE THE KING OF POLAND ! THE NEW 

CONSTITUTION. 

Prince Czartoryski, blinded by illusion, and believing the 
object was reached towards which all his thoughts and ac- 
tions had tended, had followed the Emperor Alexander to_ 
the Congress of Vienna. There an everlasting battle en- 
sued between fiction and truth. Perceiving that Alexan- 
der's plans were by no means what he had flattered himself 
they were going to be, and being desperately anxious to 
engross England in the interests of his country, the prince 
engaged in an intimate and sustained correspondence with 
Lord Gray and Lord Holland ; he did his best to explain to 
them that it was indispensable to the peace of Europe that 
the encroachments of Russia be checked, and Poland be set 
up again on a sufficiently strong footing to act as the bul- 
wark of civilisation. 

These letters, copies of which I saw, the prince was so 

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COUNTESS POTOCKA 23 1 

injudicious as to confide to the care of a secretary who had 
worked with him personally for a number of years. The 
character and devotion of this man appeared to be over- 
sufficient guarantees, but the letters were finally abstracted 
in the most underhand manner, and given up to M. de 
Novosiltzoff, who afterwards used them as evidence against 
a minister and friend on whom Alexander bestowed the full- 
est confidence. The emperor having learnt, in the course 
of years, to value the qualities and talents of Czartoryski, 
at the beginning of the congress associated him with all the 
work bearing upon the future destiny of Poland. But Czar- 
toryski, who had no ambition but to be useful to his country, 
and to serve her with unexcelled zeal, was like the heroes 
of antiquity who sacrificed all their affections to their 
motherland. They who had suspected him of working for 
himself have strangely misjudged him. 

Of course the representatives of the different European 
cabinets came to Vienna with other intentions than the Em- 
peror of Russia. 

They were all agreed upon the iniquity of the partition 
of Poland, as well as upon the impossibility of allowing the 
continued existence of a state of affairs which must breed 
incessant trouble. They all wanted that country to resume 
her former condition, to be free and independent. 

Prince Metternich protested in the name of his master, 
declaring he would not shrink before the greatest sacrifices, 
but with the proviso that Poland be ruled by a national 
government. 

M. de Talleyrand on his side insisted, in the name of 
France, on the re-establishment of Poland, saying that the 
partition of that country had been the prelude to the dis- 
turbance of all Europe; but that the King of France, 
scarcely firmly installed, could take no more than an ad- 
visory part in the matter. 



232 MEMOIRS OF THE 

As in England public opinion always influences the poli- 
tics of the cabinet more or less, Lord Castlereagh did not 
fail to speak very plainly about Poland, urging the necessity 
of making reparation for the worst political crime that had 
ever soiled the annals of the civilised world. The noble 
lord asked the parties concerned to adopt a system which 
would do them honour in the eyes of the whole zvorld. 

Prussia, whose interests were bound up with Russia's, 
observed silence, glad to have escaped from the destruction 
with which Napoleon had threatened her. 

In the midst of these momentous transactions the Con- 
gress danced, as it has been maliciously said. We were 
kept aware of everything that happened; every one had 
friends or correspondents, who eagerly recounted the most 
trifling details. The sovereigns, like children escaped from 
their teacher's ferrule for the first time, gave rapturous vent 
to the enjoyment of being masters at home. The great 
colossus who had kept them uneasy for so long was not 
there to threaten and constrain them. Completely happy, 
they amused themselves, like the kings they were, imagin- 
ing they had nothing further to fear. Each monarch made 
his choice of a lady. Alexander paid homage to the young 
woman reputed the most virtuous. Princess Ansperg; she 
was thought so proper and so plain that this selection 
caused unstinted surprise ; some even laughed in their sleeve, 
the famous Mile. Bourgoing having compromised the em- 
peror's reputation during his stay in Paris. 

The King of Prussia became smitten with the pretty 
Julia Zycsy. All the minor potentates followed this ex- 
ample, and soon the congress was metamorphosed into a 
court of love, so that, every morning, the ministers ex- 
changed diplomatic notes with whose contents the sovereigns 
acquainted themselves very speedily, in great haste as they 
were to fly to their pleasures. So business went limping. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 233 

The Viennese court displayed a magnificence which no 
one had dreamt of; it seemed as though, on the verge of 
ruin, the treasury must have been depleted; but this was 
nowhere apparent. The Emperor Francis gave gorgeous 
festivities, among them a tournament, at which the whole 
nobility of the country vied with one another in splendour ; 
the old coats of mail, and the wealth of the caparisons all 
in gold and precious stones, could, if required, have ran- 
somed some illustrious prisoners. 

The loveliest ladies appeared, covered with diamonds; 
they distributed prizes worthy of the magnificence of the 
festival, which was given in the great imperial riding-ring. 
Several thousands of spectators were present, admitted by 
cards given out by the court and by the ladies. 

In the midst of this gaiety and these splendid entertain- 
ments M. de Talleyrand received a message which brought 
the news of Napoleon's landing. There was no longer 
time to exchange notes and to negotiate; it was a general 
scramble to get out of the way — nothing else was thought 
of. Couriers were sent out in every direction to stop the 
several armies, all on their way home. It would be safe 
to assert that, that day, kings and ministers went to bed 
with their hats on and girt about with their swords, such 
was their alarm ! 

This was the dissolution of the famous congress and the 
birth of the treaty of 181 5 — come into the world under the 
stress of fear inspired by the unexpected return of Napo- 
leon. And this treaty settled the fate of Poland. 

Alexander, pleased with a quicker and easier conclusion 
than he had dared to hope for, — given the difficulties he 
had encountered at the outset, — proclaimed himself king of 
a country that was yielded to him without reserve. He 
made a great to-do about an alleged restoration, which he 
pretended to look upon as his most beautiful title to immor- 



234 MEMOIRS OF THE 

tality, whereas, at bottom, it was nothing but one partition 
more J seeing that, gaining four milHons of subjects, he could 
not possibly dispute the others their free possession of the 
provinces they had allotted to themselves at the dismem- 
berment of our unhappy country. 

Unable to deny that he must justify himself in the sight 
of those whom he had many a time promised a great deal 
more than he had kept, Alexander declared that the peace 
of Europe had not allowed, for the moment, of all the Poles 
being united into a single state. 

The messenger who brought this important piece of news 
was at once sent on, armed with despatches for the Presi- 
dent, the Senate, and M. de Novosiltzoff. 

He arrived towards evening. At once a discussion arose 
how to publish the contents of the important missive in the 
most striking manner. Novosiltzoff, who took the initi- 
ative in everything, decided the best way would be to ex- 
claim in the auditorium of the theatre, during the inter- 
mission: Long live the King of Poland! A singular 
invention, to be sure ! 

From anybody else this mode of announcing an event of 
such great moment would justly have been thought a kind 
of epigram, for there was certainly comedy in all this affair. 
But it was not to be supposed that the imperial commisssary 
was perpetrating a bad joke. So the thing was done in 
that way, and as there were a number of people in the par- 
terre who were suborned, and still more who were dupes, 
the shouts and the applause became frantic. But the boxes 
remained cold and silent! None of the persons who in- 
fluenced opinion joined in the noisy demonstrations which 
burst forth from different places in the parterre, 

M. de Novosiltzoff fussed in vain, shot encouragement 
from his squinting eyes, dispensed smiles and handshakes; 
every one quickly resumed silence. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 235 

Some of the emperor's adjutants who happened to be in 
Warsaw circulated in the theatre ; they stopped at the doors 
of the boxes, but, discouraged by the cold reception they 
met with, and hardly knowing what countenance to take on, 
they went back to their places with the utmost appearance of 
being discomfited. 

In such a manner, then, were we apprised of an event of 
such apparently large importance, but which scarcely af- 
fected our precarious position, although we were promised a 
constitution founded on national representation. 

A representative government, like that which he had seen 
operating in England, was for the moment Alexander's 
hobby. He played at constitution-making as little girls 
play at being lady. 

Those near and devoted to him claimed that his inten- 
tions and projects tended to perform more than he had 
promised ; they said that Alexander, embarrassed by the dis- 
content in Russia which his partiality for the Poles was 
already beginning to stir up, was obliged to act with care 
and deliberation. This assertion I am unable to refute ; 
but it seems to me that, if Alexander had sincerely wished 
to regenerate Poland, he would never have delegated such 
authority to his brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, 
knowing quite well that he must abuse it, and also that his 
character and ideas ran counter to the generous and liberal 
measures which the emperor declared himself as desirous of 
adopting. On the 13th of May, 181 5, Alexander signed the 
preliminaries of a constitution by which his new kingdom 
was to be regulated. Not without surprise was the flatter- 
ing promise remarked, that our charter would be, as far as 
possible, approximated to that of May 3, 1791, the object 
of every patriot's respect. But a different sentiment was 
evoked when it was seen, in the following article, that this 
same constitution was to be regarded as a sacred bond which 



236 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

united for all times the Kingdom of Poland to the Empire 
of Russia. 

Nevertheless, had this charter taken effect in good faith, fl 

the nation would have been satisfied. But displeasure 
reached its highest pitch when, on the day of publication, it 
was noticed that some articles had been omitted, and others 
altered. The charter had passed through the hands of M. 
de Novosiltzoff. 



CHAPTER III 

THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER AT WARSAW 

1815 

THE emperor's ARRIVAL — THE BALL IN THE ASSEMBLY- 
ROOMS — THE GRAND DUKE C0N5TANTINE — RUSSIAN DIS- 
CIPLINE — COMPOSITION OF THE NEW MINISTRY — PRINCE 
ADAM CZARTORYSKI — GENERAL AND MADAME ZAIONCZEK 
— THE GRAND DUKE's MISTRESS — CONSTANTINe's RE- 
VENGE. 

Alexander made his entry clad with the double title of 
general peacemaker and beneficent regenerator; this title 
was supported by a seductive grace of manner and by the 
composure that good fortune bestows. He was no longer 
the young and confiding prince we formerly saw hastening 
towards disaster. He was a monarch in all the strength of 
maturity — he had been tested by reverses, and was now 
buried under fortune's favours. 

He was greeted with a quiet and respectful welcome 
which, to be sure, did not resemble the enthusiasm Napo- 
leon had inspired. 

Long discussions took place as to the mode in which Alex- 
ander's arrival was to be celebrated. Some proposed that 
the ladies, in the guise of Slav divinities, should go to meet 

237 



238 MEMOIRS OF THE 

him, and present bread and salt to him, signs of peace and 
unity with the Northern nations. This was with reason 
deemed too theatrical, and was not adopted. Others wanted 
the ceremonies resuscitated once practised at the election 
of kings, M. de Novosiltzoff frowned on this plan, saying 
it was not proper to mix memories zvith hopes. The form 
customary in every country was therefore decided upon, 
that is to say illumination with transparents and free the- 
atrical performances. The town gave a splendid ball in 
the Assembly-rooms, which were for the occasion connected 
with the Grand Theatre, and which were decorated with 
supreme taste and elegance. 

The emperor came escorted by a whole staff of Polish 
generals; himself wore our military uniform, and wore no 
decoration but the cordon of the White Eagle. It looked as 
though, striving to make us forget that he was ruling other 
peoples, he wished to instill into us as much confidence as 
affection. His insinuating manners, the gentle and benevo- 
lent expression of his face, touched every one, and, let us 
frankly confess, the ease with which we Poles allow our- 
selves to be impressed did the remainder, and I believe on 
that day, Alexander, carried away by the outburst of the 
sentiments his presence evoked, imagined a free and inde- 
pendent Poland, where he would have found a home and 
faithful subjects. 

It was at this ball that for the first time we saw the 
Grand Duke Constantine acting as adjutant to his august 
brother; with sword at side, tight-buttoned uniform, he 
never let the emperor out of his sight, eager for his com- 
mands, and appearing to enjoy the stiff and unnatural de- 
meanour which the habit of being on duty begets. Nor did 
he ever excuse himself from this parade, and whenever the 
emperor came to Warsaw the grand duke yielded his place 
to no one; he called duty what was his greatest pleasure. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 239 

He was thus condemned not to dance, and always to stand 
at the door of the room, so as not to miss the departure of 
his superior. 

In passing I hazarded a jest to which he replied with 
imperturbable gravity : "Duty before everything. The em- 
peror himself could not release me from it." 

Such was this prince's love of discipline, that he would 
have thought himself committing a crime had he, giving 
way to his brother's insistence, for an instant left his post. 
To him the drill-ground was as good as a field of battle, be- 
cause, not at all brave by nature, he liked only the imita- 
tion of that dangerous trade. His excessive severity 
towards the soldier resulted as much from the ferocity of his 
instincts as the extreme importance he attached to the mi- 
nutest details. Had Constantine been endowed with Alex- 
ander's character, he would surely have ultimately subdued 
the Poles. It is even probable that the burning patriotism 
which had roused us to the boldest and most reckless enter- 
prises would at length have succumbed to the influence 
of a government less arbitrary and more in accord with 
the institutions which had been promised us. 

Let us hope that Providence, in its inscrutable designs, 
is reserving for us a destiny we cannot possibly foresee, and 
that its blessings will be proportionate to our punishment. 

The emperor's first stay was accompanied by noteworthy 
changes in the administration of the kingdom. The pro- 
visional government was replaced by a permanent govern- 
ment. M. de Lanckoy went off, I scarcely know to what 
degree of latitude, to manage one of the provinces of the 
vast empire, where I am sure he was more in place than he 
had been at Warsaw. 

The army already had a chief in the person of the grand 
duke; it was a question of nominating the lieutenant of the 
kingdom, and of forming a ministry. The emperor called 



240 MEMOIRS OF THE 

into the government nearly all who were ministers during 
the short life of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. M. Sobo- 
lewski was Secretary of State, M. Matuszewicz took the 
finances, M. Mostowski the Department of War, Count 
Stanislaus Potocki, my father-in-law. Public Instruction; 
the judicial branch was confided to Wawrzecki, the only 
man who had taken no previous part in Polish affairs, be- 
cause, being in the service of Russia, he had come to War- 
saw only after Alexander had given us a temporary govern- 
ment. He was not very favourably regarded, although his 
honourable character and the services he had rendered his 
country, after the War of 1794, ought to have sufficed to 
condone his acceptance of an office which was forced upon 
him. 

All the other ministers happened to be men of eminent 
minds, of remarkable education, whose proved patriotism 
and unimpeachable descent gave the best founded hopes to 
the nation, which could not do otherwise than applaud Alex- 
ander's selection. At the instigation of Napoleon he un- 
happily judged it necessary to send a representative with the 
title of Imperial Commissioner, to keep an eye on the Polish 
government, and, more unhappily still, this very momentous 
choice fell upon M. de Novosiltzoff. His mission had in 
truth no further pretext than to facilitate relations between 
Poland and Russia ; but by force of cunning and skill he at 
last insinuated himself into the Supreme Council, and was 
ignorant of nothing that happened there. Being the secret 
agent of the Russian party envious of Poland's timid eman- 
cipation, it seems he was bent upon a rupture between sov- 
ereign and nation. 

The nomination of the lieutenant was the first act by 
which Alexander hurt public opinion. No one was worthier 
to fill this important post than the Prince Czartoryski. An 
intimate friend of the emperor, initiated into all the political 
secrets of the day, known for his civic virtues, his great 



..JL 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 24 1 

erudition, and his integrity, he was fully fit to be the em- 
peror's representative. Such had probably been Alexan- 
der's first intention ; but yielding from the first to a sinister 
influence, he sacrificed his friend to the prepossessions, or 
rather the premonitions, of his brother. Czartoryski cer- 
tainly would never have been an instrument to the insane 
demands of an arbitrary rule; he would not have behaved 
like the Grand Duke, who never was able to submit to an 
order of things he did not even understand. 

The Prince Czartoryski did no more than keep his place 
in the senate, and lost all direct influence upon public affairs ; 
he nevertheless remained curator of the University of 
Wilna. In this important post he was supreme arbiter of 
public instruction, and eight millions of Poles under Rus- 
sian dominion for a number of years owed him the most 
careful education, as well as the inculcation of the noblest 
sentiments. 

Constantine took umbrage at names which owed their 
prominence to the times only. He never could disguise his 
aversion for the great Polish families; hence he hinted to 
the emperor, that the choice of a lieutenant ought to fall 
upon an obscure military man, who, bound by ties of devo- 
tion to Russia, would never oppose obstacles to any order 
he might be given. Both agreed to appoint to this post a 
decrepit old individual devoid of any administrative ideas, 
and whose weak character and subservience to the new 
dynasty assured his docility in advance. Zaionczek bowed 
his head grown white in camps of war, and accepted, as it 
was very judiciously put, a charge above his ability and 
compensation below his merits. An upstart soldier, and a 
creature of the infamous Branicki, he had been seen, as a 
sycophant of Napoleon, to follow the general to Egypt, 
without however becoming noticed aiTkong such a host of 
distinguished officers. 

Returning to the Polish service at the time when the great 



242 MEMOIRS OF THE 

man was giving a new lease of life to our army, he had lost 
a leg at Moscow, which lowered an already unfavourable 
opinion, as likewise did the injurious rumours to which his 
equivocal conduct in the war of independence had given rise. 

His wife deserves to take a place in my memoirs, and if 
history denies her a page, those who, as I did, knew her 
intimately, must in all fairness speak of the dignity with 
which she knew how to maintain herself in the exalted po- 
sition allotted to her. She exercised a great influence over 
her husband; she unceasingly combatted the servile eager- 
ness which he applied to the carrying out of the most iniqui- 
tous behests, when he would at every opportunity violate the 
constitution and declare openly, that before all he was doing 
the will of Alexander with the same ardour and fidelity which 
once he would have pledged to the service of Napoleon. 

This incessant strife frequently brought violent storms 
into the family. Madame Zaionczek, driven out at one 
door, came back through the other, and told her husband 
truths which no one else would have ventured, and which 
did not always remain without effect. 

Gifted with infinite tact and moderation, she was the 
great lady among the great, and humble among us. Her 
sudden promotion in no wise disturbed her habits or rela- 
tionships. Issued from an unknown family, she continued 
her connection with her own people; she never repudiated 
them, without however pushing or keeping them forward. 
Noble and unselfish, she was far more anxious about her 
husband's reputation than of the advantages of which her 
position might have rendered her desirous. As light in her 
tastes as she was sound in sentiment and opinion, she pre- 
sented the curious combination of the most feminine frivol- 
ity and admirable stability of character. 

Half minister, half Ninon, — less publicity, — she indulged 
her love for dress and the fashions, and also her leaning for 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 243 

tender affairs, in spite of her sixty years, without, neverthe- 
less, ever allowing an opportunity to escape of being useful 
to her husband. 

The empress mother, though strict as to the proprieties, 
treated her with the utmost distinction during a stay she 
made at Warsaw, and even had her thanked for resisting 
the grand duke's advances, who had wanted her to intro- 
duce into society his mistress, a Frenchwoman, whose an- 
tecedents were of such a character as to shut doors in her 
face. 

Here is how the thing happened : There was to be a great 
ball at the lieutenant's; M. de Novosiltzoff, ever obliging, 
had taken it upon himself to go to ask for an invitation 
card for Madame Fridrichs. Most luckily Madame 
Zaionczek came into her husband's room at the very mo- 
ment this delicate piece of business was under transaction, 
and, perceiving him disposed not to refuse, she declared 
that, if he acceded to such an unseemly request, she would 
give herself out as ill and not attend the ball, unless indeed 
the grand duke should send an order, written and signed by 
his own hand, so that she could justify herself in the eyes of 
the women of society. 

The gallant Mercury conducting the negotiations re- 
tired beaten. 

Madame Zaionczek suffered the reproaches of her hus- 
band, who prophesied her the greatest misfortunes. But 
quite on the contrary this determined act, which soon was 
as well known in Warsaw as in St. Petersburg, earned uni- 
versal regard for her. 

The grand duke submitted not without ill humour, but 
dared to say nothing; he was quite sensible to the impro- 
priety of the step he had taken. No one had a stronger 
sense of justice and injustice than himself. Too weak to 
refuse his mistress anything, and counting on the cowardly 



244 COUNTESS POTOCKA 

acquiescence which the Heutenant manifested on every oc- 
casion, he did not foresee that his wife would interpose an 
invincible objection to this absurd plan. Much too sly to 
let his resentment appear immediately, he slowly prepared 
his little revenge. 

Some time after what I have reported the town gave a 
grand ball to Constantine, and asked Madame Zaionczek to 
do the honours. As was right Madame Fridrichs was not 
invited. 

Standing in the middle of the ballroom, the duke gave 
himself up to his ill humour. It was the rule for the lady 
assigned to the reception of the guests to attend chiefly upon 
him in whose honour the festivity was held. But in vain 
did the patroness seek to interest the grand duke with var- 
ious topics of conversation; habitually talkative, he that 
day would not reply except in monosyllables, when all of 
a sudden putting up his eyeglass, he began to scrutinise 
Madame Zaionczek's ball-dress, a costume so pretty and 
fresh, that a young girl might have envied her. 

Constantine's smile boded no good. Madame Zaionczek 
being one of those people whom nothing escaped, was for- 
tifying herself against attack, the while pretending not to 
notice the persistence with which the grand duke was exam- 
ining her. The hour of vengeance had sounded ; there was 
no escape. 

"Still fifteen, the age of Howers and loves!" said the duke, 
promenading his eyeglass all over her from top to toe. 

"My Lord Duke, do you command me to withdraw?" said 
Madame Zaionczek, accompanying these few words with a 
movement which indicated she was ready to leave the ball. 
This coolness and this threat so put the duke out of coun- 
tenance, that he remained aghast, proffering apologies in the 
awkwardest way in the world, and this time again the laugh 
was not with him. 



CHAPTER IV 

MARRIAGE OF THE GRAND DUKE 
CONSTANTINE 

1820 

THE DIET OF 1818 THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINe's PART 

PRINCE JOSEPH PONIATOWSKl's STATUE JOAN GRUD- 

ZINSKA MADAME FRIDRICHS THE WEDDING THE 

PIANO MADAME WEISS THE DUCHESS OF LOWICZ. 

The 17th of March, 1818, was the memorable date of the 
opening of the diet. Europe hstened with astonishment 
and admiration to the words of an autocrat deeply imprinted 
with the love of liberty. Alexander was giving free insti- 
tutions to a small number of his subjects, 

"With the help of God," he said, 'T hope to extend these 
beneficent principles to all the countries that Providence has 
confided to my care." 

It was not Poland alone, but also Russia that received the 
tacit promise of a future enjoyment of the constitutional 
liberties we had been bereft of. 

The nation assembled in full faith, believing itself called 
to exercise its rights. Meanwhile the sovereign's intentions 
had been perverted : 

I. Right of suspending individual liberty {habeas cor- 
pus) according as the interest of the country might re- 

245 



246 MEMOIRS OF THE 

quire. 2. The budget would not be put before the chambers 
for debate until the monarch thought expedient. 3. The 
censorship would be maintained. 

However this may have been, the emperor's inaugural 
address was nothing but an apology for constitutional gov- 
ernment. All the newspapers lauded to the skies the mon- 
arch who was setting so fine an example, an example one 
hoped to see imitated in Germany, where the nation seemed 
still riper for such institutions. 

The marshal of the diet was General Krasinski, who 
was as fully attached to Russia as Zaionczek. Over this 
man he had no advantages but his birth and a remnant of 
military renown somehow acquired in the Napoleonic wars. 

One of the strangest events of this diet was the part the 
grand duke set himself. As a prince of the blood, the 
charter summoned him to the senate ; but whether he wished 
to show his indifference to the prescribed rules from the very 
beginning, or whether the oddity of his character always 
urged him to recklessness, he accepted the mandate of 
deputy of the suburb of Praga. Constantine consulted his 
august brother, who encouraged him in this; the emperor 
with his usual cleverness foresaw that the duke's menacing 
figure would be useful to nonplus the orators and check 
their dangerous transports of patriotism. 

It was a novel and curious sight to behold the heir pre- 
sumptive of the empire, the chief author of all the abuses of 
power, setting up for a defender of the people, and in ap- 
pearance becoming the guardian of constitutional liberties. 

During the fifteen years that this game of prince lasted, 
Constantine rarely went to the chamber. He spoke only 
once — in French — on the subject of provender. He pre- 
sented but a single petition in favour of the residents of 
Praga, and it was the only one which met with the em- 
peror's entire approval. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 247 

Otherwise he confined himself to the minutest inspection 
of the sentinels posted in the corridors and a strict super- 
vision of the police while the sessions were in progress. In 
a word, he did the corporal more than the deputy. 

Whether from kindness to the grand duke, or from family 
pride, Alexander never missed a parade; afterwards he re- 
turned to graver concerns. At about two he went out a 
second time, and visited the ladies he marked for distinction. 

One day he came to see me, and I profited by the favourable 
occasion to ask the emperor his consent to a plan there was 
of erecting an equestrian statue of Prince Poniatowski in 
one of the squares of the town. As an heiress and near 
relation to the hero I had the right to venture this request. 
Alexander vouchsafed to grant me the permission I solicited, 
and spoke in terms of emotion of the noble qualities and 
heroic death of him whom it was intended to render such 
well deserved homage. 

The next day I received an official letter from the em- 
peror confirming his promise. He authorised a public sub- 
scription, which the army headed by contributing three 
days' pay. This imperial document has been stored with 
the archives at Willanow, where it is religiously taken care 
of. 

After remodelling the army the grand duke undertook to 
apply his system of passive obedience to all branches of the 
government. 

In every point resembling the Emperor Paul, his father, 
Constantine added to the savageness of a monjik the cour- 
tesy of a man of the world; he prided himself on his 
chivalrous politeness towards women. And it was thus 
that an unexpected change came about in the grand duke's 
private life. 

The concern with which the public always watch the most 
insignificant actions of those who, through their position, 



248 MEMOIRS OF THE 

cannot escape their inquisitive eye, soon brought to notice 
the grand duke's assidious visits to the house of Madame 
Broniec. She had settled in Warsaw for the purpose of 
superintending the education of the three daughters she had 
had in her first marriage with M. Grudzinski. 

Joan, the oldest of the three sisters, being the plainest, 
was at first not much sought after : well built, though small, 
she had blond locks and pale-blue eyes bordered with lashes 
ever fairer than her hair ; her face had the washed out look 
of a pastel, and the same gentleness. She was unspeakably 
graceful, above all when she danced; you would have said 
she was a nymph, 

Gracing the ground, yet touching it not. 

The wits said she had glided into the grand duke's 
heart while dancing a gavotte. 

Madame Fridrichs, moving among people who repeated 
everything that happened in a social set which had justly 
repelled her, became jealous and quarrelsome. Scenes oc- 
curred, and Constantine then dissembled his new infatu- 
ation, which became more serious day by day. 

The mother, flattered by the duke's attentions, too stupid 
to feel their impropriety and to gauge their peril, abetted 
the interviews. 

Meanwhile adulators, and such as were intriguing for 
places or pensions, flocked about Joan, who remained simple, 
modest, and reserved, accepting love only, and disdaining 
all the rest — she was never seen with a jewel nor an orna- 
ment more than her sisters. 

This situation endured for two years. All of a sudden 
the rumour was spread, that a wedding had taken place, 
very quietly, but embodying the whole of the religious and 
civil ceremonial ordained by the Napoleonic code, still in 
force. Joan Grudzinska had insisted on the nuptial bene- 




— ^ — Ke le 8 Mai 1779- — — 



Grand Duke Constantine of Russia. 

From an engraving by Lignon after a drawhzg by Vigneron. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 249 

diction being given according to the Catholic rite. The 
only witnesses, excepting the bride's parents and sisters, were 
M. de Novosiltzoff, in his function of imperial commis- 
sioner, and Madame Broniec's physician. Doctor Czekierski, 

The very next day the grand duke hastened to his former 
mistress, whom he had married to a young officer named 
Weiss. Constantine took Madame Weiss to his wife, and 
said, in presenting her, that he desired them to be on good 
terms. The duchess stiffened, the grand duke got angry, 
a misunderstanding arose which only grew worse ; the pub- 
lic took sides with the legitimate spouse who had been so 
cruelly deceived in her most rightful hopes. Up till then 
she had inspired no more than a mild interest, but her sad 
position evoked profound commiseration. She went into 
a decline ; her deadly pallor, the disorder of her blond locks, 
once her loveliest adornment, made her look like Ophelia. 

She hid her sorrows carefully, but her face betrayed her 
secret pain ; her eyes were haggard, and she seemed neither 
to see nor to hear anything that was going on about her. 
Thus we saw her participate in the festivities, given in 
honour of her marriage, without taking the least interest in 
them. Like a machine, submissive to her master's will, she 
followed the grand duke without so much as looking at him ; 
she sat down, and kept silent and motionless till the moment 
when a sharp order from her husband compelled her to give 
a lifeless hand to the partner bowing before her. She 
slowly rose from her arm-chair, mechanically kept time to 
the rhythm of a polonaise without proffering a word, and 
suffered herself to be taken back to the seat assigned her 
without an apparent notion of ever having left it. The 
grand duke pretended to notice nothing, but he was in a 
dark humour, and could not subdue his displeasure. So 
that this marriage, to which Constantine had sacrificed his 
right to the throne, and which had given room to a long 



250 MEMOIRS OF THE 

series of disputes, seemed to have as its sole result the un- 
happiness of the wedded couple. 

During these proceedings the emperor arrived at War- 
saw, to take part in the opening of the second diet. He 
quickly perceived what slight harmony reigned in the 
new household, without however immediately guessing the 
reason. 

The grand duke and duchess remained inscrutable; as 
for Madame Weiss, practised in the arts of her old trade, 
she understood perfectly how to cover up the relations she 
had continued with the duke. A fortuitous circumstance 
cleared up the whole mystery. 

Alexander, wanting to please his sister-in-law, and ob- 
serving that she had no piano, sent her the handsomest 
obtainable. 

At one of the morning visits which the grand duke en- 
couraged, Madame Weiss, having pushed into the duchess' 
boudoir, not without surprise became aware of the beau- 
tiful instrument. Supposing that this present could have 
come from no one but the duke, she evinced jealousy, and, 
wishing to give a further proof of her power to the wife 
she was continually insulting, ventured so far in arrogance 
as to demand the gift of this piano. 

The duchess made a dignified defense; the scene grew 
lively, but after stronger resistance than Constantine was 
accustomed to, she was obliged to give way, and the fol- 
lowing day the splendid instrument went to adorn Madame 
Weiss' saloon. 

Chance, which often rejoices in disclosing the best hidden 
facts, smoothed out everything. Alexander went to dine at 
the Belvedere almost daily, at his brother's. Annoyed at 
the everlasting triangle after dinner, he one day proposed to 
his sister-in-law to step into her boudoir, there to breathe 
the perfume of flowers while listening to some music. 



COUNTESS POTOCKA 25 1 

Which of the two spouses was the most embarrassed? 
However that may be the grand duke tried to give the mat- 
ter a jesting turn; his wife, on the other hand, burst into 
tears, and wrapt herself in deepest silence. 

From this moment Alexander's suspicions developed to 
certainty. He had only consented with reluctance to his 
brother's divorce and second marriage, but owing to his 
wish to keep Constantine from the throne he had yielded. 
He hoped to make the grand duke happier in this way. 

The emperor, no longer in doubt as to the cause of the 
misunderstanding prevailing at the Belvedere, at once issued 
an order for Madame Weiss' departure. 

The most perfect concord was finally established between 
the pair, a change of scenery, you would have said. The 
duchess revived. The sufferings that had so visibly altered 
her features left no further traces upon her face; Constan- 
tine's attachment seemed to increase day by day. 

Alexander, to whom she owed this sudden difference of 
her position, did not stop his kindness there. Being unable, 
out of consideration for his mother, to give his sister-in-law 
the title of grand duchess, which belongs exclusively to 
princesses of the blood, he granted her the investiture of 
the Duchy of Lowicz, of which she assumed the name. 



EPILOGUE 



Here my notes end. If henceforth I write any more it will 
be without sequence, and purely to state the noteworthy 
occurrences engraved upon my memory. The incessantly 
growing misfortunes of my country and my own sorrows 
have taken from me not only the desire, but also the capacity 
to write my memoirs. It is repellent to me to accuse others, 
and try to justify myself. Moreover the "Confessions" 
of Rousseau, which I read long after beginning to write, 
have given me a lesson. 

Despite his undoubted talent and his wonderful prose he 
has contrived to gossip; in his excessive vanity he has pre- 
sumed to believe that there are people privileged to be effu- 
sive in their confidences towards posterity, which, however, 
is rarely patient with anyone trying to interest it in per- 
sonalities. 

What a queer and painful sensation it is that one experi- 
ences when, after a long life, one casts an attentive look 
behind. How many events which have seemed remarkable 
condemned to oblivion! How many miscarried ambitions, 
betrayed hopes, faded regrets, chilled enthusiasms! How 
many so-called deathless passions destroyed before their 
time! What importance attached to petty concerns and 
to silly vanities which have not left a trace! What a 
vast number of individuals disappeared, some cut off in 
their prime, others after absolving a long and toilsome 
career! How many acts, how many names seeming to de- 

252 



EPILOGUE 253 

serve immortality, hurled back into the gulf that swallows 
everything, the while persons of smaller merit survive be- 
cause they happen to be thrown into contact with great 
events ! 

And we have witnessed such dramas ; we have all rushed 
together to the same abyss : bursts of joy, cries of distress — 
all intermingled! 

Arrived near the goal, are we armed against misfortune 
and resigned to the decrees of fate? Alas! Man ceases 
only to suffer and to hope when he ceases to live. Age 
modifies and changes the nature of our impressions, but 
nevertheless does not blot them out. 



THE END 



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